History of Tamales: Ancient Origins, Indigenous Roots & Global Reach

Tamales are more than food — they are one of the deepest living cultural traditions in the Americas.

In this episode of The Global Latin Factor Podcast, Crispin Valentin traces the history of tamales from ancient Mesoamerica to Mexico, Central America, the United States, the Mississippi Delta, and the Philippines. Explore the Indigenous roots of tamales, their place in Maya and Nahua traditions, their evolution across regions, and why they remain a powerful symbol of family, migration, ritual, and identity.

If you’ve ever wondered where tamales come from, how old they are, why they matter in Mexican culture, or how they spread across the world, this episode is for you.

🌐 Visit www.thegloballatinfactor.com
for more.

Transcript

0:02
Welcome, welcome you and all to another
0:04
episode of the Global Latin Factor
0:05
podcast where we talk about Latino
0:08
everything. I am your host KP Valentine.
0:11
Make sure you subscribe to the channel
0:13
right now. You already know you have
0:14
nothing to lose and so much to gain this
0:16
amazing knowledge, amazing individuals,
0:18
amazing content about our Latino
0:20
cultura. So you already know to go ahead
0:22
and subscribe today. And today we are
0:25
talking about something that a lot of us
0:28
love, like absolutely adore, love. But
0:32
most people really don't fully
0:33
understand what it is. And we are
0:35
talking about tamales.
0:38
We have the tamala. Now we're going to
0:40
talk about tamales. Not just food, not
0:42
just tradition, not just something that
0:45
people bring up around the holidays. No,
0:47
we are talking about a whole lot more.
0:50
We're talking about tamales
0:53
history. Tamales history as memory, as
0:57
survival, as a movement, and as one of
1:00
the most deepest food traditions in the
1:03
Americas, all the Americas, because
1:06
tamales are not just some little side
1:09
note in culture. Not at all. They are
1:11
one of the most and biggest stories that
1:15
we need to tell. And one more thing more
1:18
than that, you got to realize that
1:20
tamales are not just something that you
1:22
eat. No, not at all. It's something that
1:25
people carry, something that people
1:27
preserve, and something that people pass
1:30
down through hands, through their
1:32
kitchens, through migration, through
1:35
struggle, through colonization, and
1:37
through time. So today I want to take
1:40
the time and take you back to the
1:43
history of tamales. Back before the
1:46
modern industry, back before borders,
1:49
back before written records of most
1:52
people that rely on one even in the
1:55
written records because the story of Tom
1:57
starts deeper. So get ready really
2:01
really deep. So [music]
2:10
[music]
2:16
[music]
2:21
The true origin of tamale goes back to
2:24
the ancient Meso America.
2:28
Meso America where it originated. Now,
2:31
let's see something more clearly because
2:33
nobody can honestly tell you this is the
2:37
exact year. This is the exact tamal that
2:41
the first tamal was ever made or the
2:43
day. That's not how history works. When
2:46
we're dealing with something as old as
2:48
tamales, we got to do it different. But
2:51
the scholars do agree that tamales are
2:55
ancient and that the time they are
2:58
clearly being here for many years as
3:01
other records has established. So
3:04
already meaningful and already part of
3:07
people's life. That's important because
3:09
tamales did not just show up randomly as
3:13
a food experiment. They showed up like
3:16
something people already knew,
3:19
something that people are dependent on
3:22
because it's easy way to carry food
3:25
deliciousness. And when you think about
3:27
it, what a tamad really is, it's just
3:31
makes it makes perfect sense in regards
3:33
to what it is. So you take maise, you
3:35
grind it down, turn it into a dough, you
3:38
wrap it, and you fill it up and you
3:39
steam it up. Sounds simple, right? as
3:42
your the spends hours making tomatoes
3:44
and now you have something portable
3:46
filling that is protected and is easy to
3:50
make in batches. That is brilliant. That
3:53
is like amazing technology to be able to
3:55
do that. And that is not just cooking.
3:58
That is not that is like food knowledge
4:00
to be able to innovate that to be able
4:02
to create that. And that is that people
4:05
don't understand. People understanding
4:07
that what makes crops families feed
4:11
workers feeds communities and still
4:13
holds cultural meaning. That's what
4:15
tamales are. Now that's one of the most
4:18
reason why tamales lasted as long as
4:20
they did. They were practical but they
4:23
were also were never only just
4:25
practical. They were
4:27
even the word itself tells the history
4:30
even the word. So the word tamale comes
4:33
from the Spanish from the nawa word
4:37
actually nawa word mean tamali tamali.
4:41
So even in its name, the indigenous
4:43
roots is still there whether we want it
4:46
or not. And it still makes you think
4:50
about that particular thing because too
4:52
often people talk about food like it's
4:55
just without honoring it and without
4:58
even digging deeper into what it is. But
5:01
tamalis are one of the those foods where
5:04
indigenous foundation is important to
5:07
not ignore because it's just honest and
5:11
that's where it came from. That's who
5:12
originated. Now one of the most
5:14
interesting things in the historical
5:17
research comes from the classical Maya
5:20
world. Some scholars have argued that
5:23
maize tamal may be even may have been
5:28
even primarily used as maise food of the
5:32
world. Yes, before tortillas. Before
5:34
tortillas. Think about that. So a lot of
5:36
people today would probably assume it
5:38
was tortilla first. But history is more
5:43
layered than what you think. In Maya art
5:46
and in writing and in food ways, tamales
5:50
appear as something very important
5:53
before tortillas. Not marginal, not
5:57
occasional, but important. And that
6:00
tells us a lot. Tamales
6:03
were never just a special occasion food
6:06
like we do these days. No, not at all.
6:09
They could be everyday food, travel
6:12
food, ritual food, and communal food.
6:16
That flexibility is part of their power
6:20
in regards to why they lasted so long.
6:22
They fit into the life that is more than
6:24
one ways. And maybe that is the reason
6:28
why they still survive and are still
6:30
strong, stronger than ever, way past all
6:33
the obstacles because food that is like
6:36
that and it's very important and it does
6:39
not disappear. But food that can live in
6:42
a daily life and sacred life and that's
6:45
just a different thing. Those tend to
6:48
last and that's why tamales are still
6:50
here. Now we are going to move forward
6:52
into colonial period that is where
6:55
tamales began to appear more clearly in
6:58
written records but that doesn't mean
7:00
they were not there before. One of the
7:02
major sources here is the Florentine
7:05
codex tied to Bernardino de Sagon and
7:09
now a collaborator in the 16th century.
7:12
And what matters to us is not just that
7:16
tamales are mentioned, but that it is
7:21
that they're showing up already as
7:24
diversity as different options. There's
7:27
different kinds of different variation,
7:29
different preparations, different uses
7:31
of tamales. That means that by that time
7:34
Europeans were already documented
7:37
tamales. This was already a
7:40
mature tradition in regards to what they
7:42
were now. They're not just witness. They
7:46
didn't just witness the birth of
7:47
tamales. They were just arriving late to
7:50
see something that had been already here
7:52
alive for a very very long time before
7:54
they got here. Tamales was already
7:56
existing. And that's the powerful thing
7:59
about that that you can sit on it and
8:01
think about it and it already here.
8:02
Because too often people act like
8:05
something like that becomes real once
8:07
they get to write it down in a colonial
8:09
archive. But no, not at all. People
8:11
already live in it. The males were real
8:14
before any kind of archaeology, any kind
8:17
of written contest, any kind of record
8:19
that was created. It was already
8:21
tradition where people were at. And it's
8:23
only catching up in regards to what it
8:26
has already been. And even after being
8:29
catching up and being late to the party,
8:31
that changes the way that we talk about
8:33
tamales because it's not just a story of
8:37
a dish that became important later on
8:39
and continues to flourish to this day.
8:42
This is a story of the food that was
8:45
already carrying weight before outsiders
8:49
even started describing it. Describing
8:52
it, not even consuming it, just
8:53
describing it. Now, another thing that I
8:56
really love about the Tamal story is
8:59
that it never has been a singular.
9:02
Tamales has never been singular. There's
9:05
one tamal that speaks to everybody. And
9:09
honestly, you know, there's nothing
9:11
wrong with that because it's when you
9:13
think about tamales, there's different
9:14
ways you can have tamales. Tamales are
9:17
you know something that is a family food
9:19
and the whole world rapist tradition
9:23
that develop across many regions and
9:25
cultures and generations. In some places
9:28
they wrap it in corn husk of course we
9:31
know the traditional one and in other
9:33
places they use banana leaves as we know
9:36
as well from Honduras in different
9:38
places.
9:40
And some are dense, some are soft, some
9:42
are sweet, some are savory, some are
9:46
tied to like feast days, some are tied
9:49
to street life. Some belong to the
9:52
holidays and some belong to everyday
9:55
life like that makes all year round. And
9:59
that's diversity, not just a weak
10:01
tradition, but it is diversity. The
10:03
diversity and tradition of the Tamal and
10:06
why it's important. Now, something that
10:08
I really want people to hear is that
10:10
variation is not the problem. Variation
10:13
is the proof that a food is alive. Then
10:18
you ever been around a family argument
10:21
about who makes the better tamales,
10:23
right? You always have the the make the
10:25
better, they'll swear by. You just know
10:27
that you're participating in a very old
10:30
tradition, a very old argument as who
10:33
makes the better, which house. Now let's
10:35
talk about something even bigger
10:37
recognition because tamales have a crown
10:40
in modern in the modern world in regards
10:43
to they are part of the tradition of
10:47
Mexican cuisine as you all most of them
10:49
know and they were recognized by the
10:51
Dunesco in 2010 as an intangible
10:54
cultural heritage of humanity. We talked
10:57
about that before that is major. That
11:00
means tamales are not just seen as
11:03
something delicious as we all know. Tell
11:06
me what your favorite one too by the
11:07
way.
11:09
They are recognized as part of a living
11:12
system of agricultural ritual, family
11:15
knowledge, community memory and cultural
11:18
identity. Cuz a lot of us do recognize
11:21
ourselves with that. That is huge. That
11:23
is a big deal to be able to have
11:25
something like that is cultural. And
11:26
honestly, it makes sense because making
11:29
tamales is not just something very quick
11:31
and casual as we all know. Maybe you
11:35
have not experienced it, but I would try
11:36
it. This is a labor of love. It's a
11:39
whole entire process. This is just the
11:41
kind of food where the recipe is only
11:44
part of the story. It's not just
11:46
everything. The rest of the story is in
11:49
the hands that make it in the theas the
11:52
mamas who learned it who teached it who
11:56
know the masa the feeling of the masa
11:59
who can tell when it's the right and
12:02
when it needs more and they do it
12:04
without measuring that kind of knowledge
12:06
does not come from nowhere that comes
12:09
from repetition from memory from familia
12:12
from culture so when the nunes recognize
12:16
the traditional Mexican cuisine and
12:19
tamales are as part of the story. It
12:22
feels right because that's what it
12:24
takes. And I'm telling you, no
12:26
measurement whatsoever. Because a tamale
12:28
is not just something on a plate. Not at
12:32
all. It carries a whole world behind it.
12:36
the Americas and more now history and
12:40
more in regards to moving colonization
12:44
changed food and war across the
12:46
Americas. New animals, new ingredients,
12:49
new fats, new routes of trade and new
12:52
social identities became to morph the
12:55
tamali changed and tamales changed with
12:58
the world as the world was changing. In
13:01
many places, port became more of a
13:03
common thing in tamales. In some
13:05
traditions, l became very important when
13:07
you come and are making tamales and till
13:10
these days still a lot of people use our
13:12
different feelings develop and different
13:15
regions and style grew even with them
13:17
with that region. So here's what is very
13:20
powerful even with all those changes the
13:23
core of the tamal remains masa wrapped
13:29
steamed and shared. Tell me your
13:32
favorite tamal. By the way, the basic
13:35
pretty much survived. The basic is the
13:37
core of the tamal. And to me that says
13:39
something bigger about our cultura in
13:43
general. Not everything that changes
13:46
gets lost. Not at all. Some things adapt
13:50
without giving up the entire and the
13:52
soul of what it is. Tamales at its core,
13:54
the soul is still there. Tamales did
13:57
that. They didn't disappear. They
13:58
adapted. That's one of the reason why it
14:01
feels so meaningful to be able to talk
14:03
about the history because it reflects
14:06
the bigger bigger thing regarding to the
14:09
Latino Latino identity pressure changes
14:13
migration reinvention is still something
14:16
that is very essential to stay alive
14:20
than ever before. And then later tamales
14:23
became part of another another story
14:27
too. National identity as Mexico moved
14:31
through the 19th century and questions
14:34
of national nationalhood uh modernity
14:38
and class and culture identity. Food
14:40
became part of that conversation as
14:42
well. And guess who was part of it? Yep.
14:45
Tamales were part of the larger more
14:48
conversation around the world because
14:50
food is never just food. Food gets used
14:54
to talk about class to talk about race
14:58
to talk about what actually refineses
15:01
and what is common. So to talk about
15:04
what belongs to talk about what counts
15:07
and what is real. And honestly, we still
15:10
do it to this day and it still happens
15:12
these days nowadays. Every time somebody
15:16
says that that's not authentic. I mean,
15:20
we still in a conversation of thousands
15:21
of years. Every time somebody acts like
15:24
only one version counts, I'm like, for
15:27
real? And every time people get flatter
15:30
in regards to, you know, the narrow
15:33
definition, that's just an old argument.
15:35
It's still alive thousands of years. But
15:37
tamales have always been bigger than
15:40
that history in time. They were never
15:44
just a one thing that was frozen in
15:46
time. Talk about they always had room
15:49
for region, for local style, for
15:52
different adaptations and more. Now,
15:55
let's move north because that only
15:59
matters in this part of the story in
16:01
regards to where it went. So Mexico
16:03
tamales were left a major footprint here
16:06
in the United States as well because not
16:08
only that but not just recently tamales
16:12
were already visible in American food
16:15
life by the late 19th century early 20th
16:19
century especially in plates shaped by
16:22
Mexican and Mexicanamean communities. So
16:25
we've been here contributing to the
16:27
things every day and people still take
16:29
the use. Street vendors sold them in
16:32
cities and they knew them. Neighborhoods
16:34
knew about tamales already and they were
16:36
already implementing it. They were part
16:38
of the real food culture. So the idea of
16:42
the Latin food only recently become
16:45
visible here in the United States is not
16:47
true at all whatsoever because tamales
16:51
were already here. They were already
16:52
getting passed on. They're already being
16:54
sold by vendors already feeding people
16:57
already shaping public food life. Now,
17:03
stay with us. We'll be right back.
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One of the most fascinating turns in the
17:35
world of tamales happens in Mississippi
17:39
Delta. Mississippi Delta. Why? Because
17:42
yes, the tamales
17:44
became a southern thing. That is one of
17:47
the wildest things that ever happened.
17:50
Best food history facts that there was.
17:53
The delta hatamales became part of the
17:56
local culture and one of the strongest
17:59
explanation
18:00
in regards to connect the story of
18:03
Mexican immigrant workers while the food
18:05
was also evolved alongside with the
18:09
black southern foodways and local
18:12
traditions. This is such a powerful
18:14
story. And again, way before it was
18:17
cool, we already been doing it because
18:19
now we're just looking at it and we're
18:21
seeing the food crossing borders and
18:23
being influenced of the immigrants.
18:26
You're looking at the food that was
18:27
being put down and its roots and it's
18:30
cultural and it's part of the world. And
18:32
it didn't just exactly did the same. He
18:35
adapted. It became regional. It became
18:38
local. And then once again it became
18:41
part of the sound and the memory that
18:44
identities of a place far from the
18:47
deepest origin way far Meso America.
18:51
That to me is one of the clearest
18:53
example of the food and what it does. It
18:56
carries memory without staying alive and
18:59
it can travel without becoming an empty
19:02
vessel, an empty thing. It can change
19:05
and it can still remain itself. And
19:08
guess what? Tamales did that and
19:11
continue to do that and it's a beautiful
19:13
thing. Now zooming back out to the uh
19:17
global footprint of tamales the is the
19:20
biggest and there's a lot of people that
19:23
realize of course there's deeper roots
19:26
and they are again all the way traced to
19:29
me America that includes the region that
19:32
is now Mexico and parts of Guatemala
19:35
bizuras
19:38
el Salvador and then of of course then
19:42
across Mexico has become become one of
19:44
the most diverse and important foods in
19:48
tradition in the entire country itself
19:51
to the point where it's part of UNESCO
19:53
now and across Central America. You can
19:56
find a strong tama traditions in
19:58
Guatemala, the Salvador, Honduras,
20:00
Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Now
20:05
they are also a related tradition that
20:09
closest that's very close to the cousin
20:11
and it's part of the Caribbean and the
20:14
South Americas and then of course in the
20:17
United States especially places like
20:19
Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona,
20:24
Illinois and as I mentioned earlier the
20:27
Mississippi Delta. So one of the most
20:31
surprising and footprint is in the
20:33
Philippines. Yes, in the Philippines.
20:36
Now,
20:38
Tamales cross all the way down to the
20:41
Pacific and
20:43
that happened through the long colonial
20:46
connection between Mexico and the
20:48
Philippines. So now the Tamal story is
20:52
not just an American thing, a
20:54
Mesoamerican thing. It's a trans
20:57
oceanocianic thing and that is a huge
21:00
deal. The global land factors I
21:02
mentioned before because it shows that
21:04
tamales are not only just only rooted
21:07
here is bigger than that. They're also
21:10
global. They move through the trade, the
21:14
empire, the migration and the adaptation
21:17
and they reach a new place and took
21:20
local life there as well. They took its
21:23
own identity where it was at at that
21:26
time. And that's not just a small food
21:28
story. That's bigger than that. That is
21:30
a world history inside something that is
21:32
wrapped and steamed and what a love for
21:36
most people. What a love and even all
21:40
all over the scale in regards to the way
21:42
the people feel about their tamales. So
21:45
they still feel close. They still feel
21:48
like somebody made this with intentions.
21:51
Somebody learned this. Somebody passed
21:53
it down and somebody kept this alive.
21:56
And that is just such a cultural amazing
21:58
thing indeed. That is intimacy and part
22:01
of the magic of making a tamalas and
22:04
sharing with your loved ones. Now let's
22:06
me give you just three fun facts about
22:09
food that will definitely you can take
22:12
it to a party. Tell somebody the word
22:14
tamales come from the word
22:18
or tamal. So every time people say they
22:22
are speaking the word with the
22:24
indigenous roots. anytime they say
22:26
tamales.
22:27
Get it? Got it? Good. Now, second, some
22:30
scholars argue that in the classic Maya
22:34
world, tamales may have been one of the
22:38
most primary food of mis again
22:42
bigger bigger than tortillas at that
22:45
time that people don't understand. And
22:47
it's wild to think that they could have
22:49
been before. Third, one of the most
22:51
unexpected places where tamales became a
22:54
deep rooted is in the Mississippi Delta
22:57
here in the United States with hot
22:59
tamales became part of the southern food
23:03
culture all the way from Mexico to the
23:06
delta. That's one of the most amazing
23:07
thing because it reminds you that food
23:11
can start in one world and still become
23:14
a meaningful and very amazing thing
23:17
without losing its amazing deep history
23:20
roots. And that brings us to the present
23:23
today. Damales are still alive and in so
23:27
many places by the way. Home kitchens,
23:29
street vending, family holidays,
23:32
community gathering, church sales, food
23:36
businesses, restaurants, modern
23:39
reinterpretation of what the origin was.
23:42
They are old, but they are not frozen in
23:46
time. They are very much alive and they
23:48
are still at the soul of it matters and
23:51
they are the same because tradition is
23:53
not just exactly the same forever.
23:56
tradition sometimes is about continuity
23:59
and continuing the process of the
24:02
amazing culture of the food that it is
24:05
tamales. So tamales are one of the
24:08
cleanest examples of that of that
24:10
history of that richness that doesn't go
24:12
away. They survive ancient history. They
24:15
survive colonization. They survive
24:18
migration. They survive modernization.
24:21
And through that and everything else,
24:24
they still feel like when you try one,
24:27
you exactly at home with your people the
24:30
way it should be. And that is very
24:31
powerful. Absolutely. So when you really
24:34
ask about what is a tamal, it's more
24:37
than just a food. It's indigenous
24:40
indigenous indigenous knowledge. It's
24:42
family labor. It's ritual. It's
24:44
adaptation, migration, memory, and
24:46
belonging. because there's something
24:49
about the the culture you have and the
24:52
history you have and that is an amazing
24:54
thing to have in regards to the world.
24:56
Now, that is why you deserve to pay
24:59
respect than just being treated like a
25:03
seasonal dish. People only talk about it
25:06
maybe once a year, but you know, you
25:08
have to kind of know when you on rapid
25:10
tamal, you're not just opening lunch or
25:13
dinner or recalent. You're opening
25:16
history. You're opening something that
25:19
I'll leave empires, empires,
25:22
colonization in general, something that
25:25
cross borders all the way to the
25:27
Philippines that in oceans as well and
25:31
still alive because people make sure
25:33
that it stayed alive even through all
25:35
those changes, even through the
25:36
additional different things. And that to
25:38
me is just like beautiful and the real
25:41
history of the things that we are. So
25:43
next time you see a tamage, don't just
25:45
say, "Oh, wow. That's another food. See
25:48
the hands behind it, the history behind
25:50
it. See the generation behind it in
25:53
regards to the probably the same recipe
25:55
carried over in memory and see the
25:58
people behind it. How much they put
26:00
passion behind it because tamales did
26:02
not just make it into your play by
26:04
accident. It took many thousands of year
26:06
to get there. It got there because
26:09
tradition continued to survive which is
26:11
again the global land factor. Thank you
26:14
so much for listening to another episode
26:16
of the Global Land Factor. Make sure you
26:18
subscribe to this channel right now. You
26:19
have nothing to lose, so much to gain.
26:21
And make sure you subscribe. Tell me
26:23
what is your favorite tamale. Tell me
26:25
why you love tamales. Tell me if you
26:27
have them year round or you only have
26:29
them once a year or your argues with
26:33
everybody in their mom, the entire block
26:35
that she makes the best tamales and
26:37
there's nobody that can touch her
26:38
tamales. I argue that my mom makes the
26:40
best tamales, but that's just me. And
26:42
not only that, my mom morphed into a
26:45
vegan option of tamales, which not a lot
26:47
of people do, but my mom happened to do
26:50
that fusion. And again, core edit sold
26:54
still tamal, but made variations that I
26:57
can have some tamales and that's amazing
26:59
to me. And remember once again to
27:00
subscribe to the channel right now. You
27:03
have nothing to lose. So much to gain,
27:05
such amazing knowledge, such amazing
27:08
knowledge, such amazing individuals that
27:09
we have featured here on the podcast.
27:12
Over 240 episodes and growing. And it's
27:17
all thanks to you, the ones that
27:18
continue to support. Make sure you
27:20
comment. Let us know where you're at.
27:21
Let us know what you're listening to. If
27:23
you have not subscribed, I know the
27:25
ratios are always off of a lot of
27:28
channels, but I would highly appreciate
27:30
if you subscribe. It takes but a second
27:32
and it's free. And remember, we are just
27:34
like you. We are people. We are humans.
27:38
We are the spice and flavor in this
27:40
melting pot. This is the world. Till
27:42
next time.
27:46
[music]