Category: Historical Background

Tamal-making: Connection to Children’s Literature

Tamal-making and tamaladas bring families together and connect families through tradition and history. Themes of family, tradition, and belonging have come up time and time again during our studies of Latina/o/x cultures. A perfect example of how the influence of tamal-making connects to themes of family and belonging is...

La tamalada: la celebración de tamales

La tamalada is a tamale making party, where families gather together to reconnect, share stories, and make delicious tamales. A tamalada is a casual, yet organized event with each family member working on some part of the tamal-making process, like it is an assembly line. Tamaladas are a historical...

History of Tamales in Mexico

Corn, or maize, has always been central to the Mexican diet and Mexican cuisine. Not just Mexico, but throughout Mesoamerica, corn was vital and valued in their cuisine. Stories about the creation of the human race in ancient Maya depicted how the gods decided what the human race should...