tamale

The tradition & historical record

A tamale or tamal is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaves. The wrapping can either be discarded prior to eating or used as a plate. Tamales can be filled with meats, cheeses, fruits, vegetables, herbs, chilies, or any preparation according to taste, and both the filling and the cooking liquid may be seasoned. Tamale is an anglicized version of the Spanish word tamal (plural: tamales). Tamal comes from the Nahuatl tamalli. The English "tamale" is a back-formation from tamales, with English speakers applying English pluralization rules, and thus interpreting the -e- as part of the stem, rather than part of the plural suffix -es. ¹

Tamales originated in Mesoamerica as early as 8000 to 5000 BC. The preparation of tamales is likely to have spread from the indigenous cultures in Mesoamerica to the rest of the Americas. According to archaeologists Karl Taube, William Saturno, and David Stuart, tamales may date from around 100 AD. They found pictorial references in the Mural of San Bartolo, in Petén, Guatemala. The Aztec and Maya civilizations, as well as the Olmec and Toltec before them, used tamales as easily portable food for hunting trips, traveling large distances, and nourishing their armies. Tamales were also considered sacred, as they were seen as the food of the gods. The Aztec, Maya, Olmecs, and Toltecs as peoples considered corn as a central part of their cultural identity, so tamales played a large part in their rituals and festivals. ¹

The different forms of tamales eaten and sold in Aztec markets are well documented in the extensive Florentine Codex written by Reverend Bernardino de Sahagún. In book X he describes how Aztec tamales used a variety of corn for their flour base and were cooked in earth ovens, or olla, which were heated by the steam of dried cane grown and harvested for the express purpose of cooking tamales. Fillings would consist of meat (turkey, fish, frog, axolotl, gopher), fruit, bean, squash seed, turkey egg and even no filling. They would be seasoned with chilis or seeds if they were savory and honey if they were sweet. Tamales also held great religious and spiritual importance within Aztec culture. It was customary for Aztec women to stay up for two to three days cooking tamales before a wedding. (Codex, Book IX). In terms of festivities, the most notable was Uauhquiltamalcualiztli, which was celebrated during the 18th month of the calendar round. The name of the celebration translates to 'The Eating of Tamales Stuffed with Amaranth Greens' and was a celebration of the fire deity Ixcozauhqui. Another significant ritual for the Aztecs was the feast of Atamalcualiztli (eating of water tamales). This ritual, held every eight years for a whole week, was done by eating tamales without any seasoning, spices, or filling, which allowed the maize freedom from being overworked in the usual tamale cooking methods. ¹

In the pre-Columbian era, the Mayas ate tamales and often served them at feasts and festivals. The Classic Maya hieroglyph for tamales has been identified on pots and other objects dating back to the Classic Era (200–1000 AD), although they likely were eaten much earlier. Tamales appear often in ceramic ware from the Mayan Classic era (200–1000 AD). The Fenton vase shows a plate of unwrapped tamales being offered as a penance to a powerful Mayan nobleman. While tortillas are the basis for the contemporary Maya diet, remarkably little evidence exists for tortilla production among the Classic period Maya. A lack of griddles in the archaeological record suggests that the primary foodstuff of the Mesoamerican diet may have been the tamal, a cooked, vegetal-wrapped mass of maize dough. Tamales are cooked without the use of ceramic technologies and therefore the form of the tamale is thought to predate the tortilla. Similarities between the two maize products can be found in both the ingredients, preparation techniques, and the linguistic ambiguity exhibited by the pan-Mayan term wa referring to a basic, daily consumed maize product that can refer to either tortillas or tamales. ¹

While the exact origin of tamales has yet to be determined, the oldest people confirmed to have eaten them were the Toltecs, as archaeologists have found fossilized corn husks around the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacan. (c. 250 BC – 750 AD) ¹

In Panamanian cuisine, tamal de olla, which is Spanish for "tamale of the pot/pan," is best described as a Panamanian-style tamale that fills the baking pan in which it is cooked, and is not wrapped in a banana or plantain leaf. The ingredients include pork or chicken cooked with corn-stuffed cornmeal (with "maiz nuevo"), vegetables (onion, tomato, and bell pepper), olives, and raisins. Some also add chopped prunes. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Tamale”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

tamale is corn-based food from Mesoamerica, traditionally wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 13 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²