From the Sun: Tamales a part of Christmas tradition; Indio Tamale Festival this weekend
I believe I’m the only gringa in the unit where I work. I can say that and don’t really care who is offended. It was more of a term of endearment when I was a kid and I don’t care what the PC police now say.
Actually, as a kid we spent a lot of time in Baja and I came to love the culture, especially the food and the music. Anyone who knows me knows that if I’m asked where I want to eat, it will be a Mexican restaurant, and I don’t mean Del Taco. Last week it was Mitlas and this week Las Palmas; La Casita if I’m here in the desert. I think I could eat Mexican food three times a day and never get tired of it.
We seem to discuss food a lot at work. Yesterday it was Mole and today it was Tortas. When I worked at Del Rosa, there was a great place down the street to get Tortas. I’ve learned that good Tortas are an art and not always easy to find. Today I asked if there was a good place for Tortas nearby. Well I was directed to somewhere that I cannot remember the name of. When I walked in I realized I was the only gringa in the place. I also discovered that no one there spoke English. Ordering was fun. I didn’t care as long as I didn’t get the Cabeza Torta. I ended up with pork–they used a term for it I had never heard of and then finally asked me if I wanted Carnitas, which we all understood. OMG, I have not had such a good Torta in years. It was complete with Mexican cheese and avocado. The pork was so tender and cooked in a really good sauce. They have a new fan.
I had also been told they sold “Mexican Coke” and they did. I have to say I enjoyed the whole bottle. Finally, they had the yam/sweet potato/pumpkin candy (I had to point as they had no idea what I wanted and I couldn’t tell from looking at it which was which, nor could I tell from eating it. All I know is I ate the whole thing.
Anyway, Patty has said she is going to try to bring in tamales for us. I can hardly wait. There are lots of vendors selling them in the local WalMart parking lot but they usually catch me when I have no cash or when I’m entering the store but are gone by the time I leave. One day I’m buying a dozen and eating all I want!
Geez, what does any of this have to do with politics? I guess this story made me hungry at 1 a.m.
By Joe Smilor on December 4, 2008 8:02 PM
During the rest of the year, a tamale is part of a meal.
But during the Christmas holidays, the tamale is a delicious present from the past, a taste of family and a rich Latino heritage unwrapped with special joy.
Every bite is a memory, of Grandma, Mom, your favorite tia, of long and happy hours in the kitchen mixing the masa and creating perfect packets of chile and shredded pork or beef or chicken that are wrapped lovingly in corn husks.
“It’s a family thing,” said Betty Duran.
Very much a family thing.
Duran says for her family, tamales have been both tradition and survival.
It’s been that way since 1962, when her mother, Adela Gil, started selling hot tamales from a yellow truck parked on a dirt lot along Euclid Avenue in Ontario.
In one faded photo from those early days, you can see a little girl among the many lined up for tamales.
That’s Gil’s granddaughter, Lisa Lizarraga.
They were humble beginnings.
“And I mean humble beginnings,” she said. “But we had lines of people all day long.”
In 1969, the family traded its truck for a storefront and Tamale King was born. Today, the family sells tamales by the dozen in a small Chino strip mall.
In front is a tamale cart to remind customers of their roots. In the back, they mix the masa and mold the tamales using Grandma’s recipe.
“We make it the traditional Mexican way,” Lizarraga said. “It’s all by hand.”
The spicy pork tamale is the original, but they also sell beef tamales and, just before Christmas, chicken tamales.
This is the busy time of the year, when families place their orders for the tamales that have become part of their holiday tradition.
It’s all part of a celebration that stretches from one end of the Inland Empire to the other, from Buenos Dias Tamales & Tortillas in Colton to the Tamale Factory in Riverside, to Indio, where some 160,000 people will gather Saturday and Sunday to revel in all things tamale.
The Indio International Tamale Festival is the place to taste the traditions and innovations of the tamale as it is made in many parts of Latin America, from sweet corn, strawberry and chocolate tamales to the savory pork tamales visitors take home by the bagful.
Named by Food Network Television as one of the Top 10 All-American Food Festivals, it is also home to the famous tamale tasting contest, where last year’s overall winner was a cactus and Monterey jack cheese tamale.
For many, the Christmas season remains a call to family, a time to gather faithfully in the kitchen to keep their tamale traditions alive.
They will laugh and maybe argue over who gets to do what this year. And as the hours pass, they will create many dozens of tamales that they believe have just the right mix of masa and pork and chile.
Everyone thinks theirhis tamale is the best, and Duran says that pride is understandable. The recipes may have been passed down for generations, and there is love in each bite. Tamale King is a business, but at Christmas, when her other children take time from their professions to join her and Lizarraga in the kitchen, there is something more at work.
“When we make tamales, it’s for the family,” she said. “I keep this going for my mother.”
The Indio International Tamale Festival runs Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is between Highway 111 and Indio Boulevard. For more information, contact www.tamalefest.net.
Tamale King is at 12345 Mountain Ave., Suite D, in Chino. For hours and information, call (909) 628-7233.
mark.petix@inlandnewspapers.com
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