Tamale - United States

United States

Tamales have been eaten in the United States since at least 1893, when they were featured at the World's Columbian Exposition. A tradition of roving tamale sellers was documented in early 20th-century blues music. They are the subject of the well-known 1937 blues/ragtime song "They're Red Hot" by Robert Johnson.

While Mexican-style and other Latin American-style tamales are featured at ethnic restaurants throughout the United States, there are also some distinctly indigenous styles.

Cherokee tamales, also known as bean bread or "broadswords", were made with hominy (in the case of the Cherokee, the masa was made from corn boiled in water treated with wood ashes instead of lime) and beans, and wrapped in green corn leaves or large tree leaves and boiled, similar to the meatless pre-Columbian bean and masa tamales still prepared in Chiapas, central Mexico and Guatemala.

Semisweet tamales, wrapped in banana leaves and called guanimes, are found in Puerto Rico.

In the Mississippi Delta, African Americans developed a spicy tamale made from cornmeal (rather than masa), which is boiled in corn husks.

In Chicago, unique tamales made from machine-extruded cornmeal wrapped in paper are sold at Chicago-style hot dog stands.

In North Louisiana, tamales have been made for several centuries. The Spanish established presidio Los Adaes in 1721 in modern day Robeline, Louisiana. The descendants of these Spanish settlers from Central Mexico were the first tamale makers to arrive in the eastern U.S. Zwolle, Louisiana has a Tamale Fiesta every year in October.

There is also an International The Tamale Festival that is held in Indio, California every year in December that has earned two Guinness World Records: the largest tamale festival (120,000 in attendance, Dec. 2-3, 2000) and the world's largest tamale, created by Chef John Sedlar. The 2006 Guinness Book calls the festival "the world's largest cooking and culinary festival."

The non-profit Mama's International Tamale Association (MITA), headquartered in Los Angeles, California, helps "foster entrepreneurship" by teaching its members how to successfully start and maintain a business. It funds its workshops and services with its Mama's Hot Tamales Cafe restaurant.