As a child, I didn’t understand the cultural significance; I just knew that every year, between Thanksgiving turkey and New Year’s fireworks, my El Salvadorean aunt gave us something besides presents to unwrap. Aunty Miriam gifted us a dozen delicious tamales. The earthy scent wafted from the deep pot, and I couldn’t wait to unfold the banana leaves filled with corn masa, shredded chicken, green olives, and carrots. It warmed my insides; I could feel the love in each comforting bite.
The tamal tradition traces back to Mesoamerica, where Aztecs and Mayans consumed the portable treat. They took the humble masa-packed meal on hunting trips and brought it along for battle. Ancient people even offered tamales as sacrifices to the gods.
In modern times, many Latino families gather for tamaladas, tamal-making parties from November to February. “It’s a work of art, and it’s a lot of work,” chef Mariana Alvarado Garcia says. The owner of MasAzul will make persimmon mole tamales this year with her children, her parents, and her brother. “I mean, tamales are delicious. Everybody has a recipe; there are thousands of recipes. But it’s the time together, the Let’s sit down and chat. Let’s plan a vacation. Let’s cry about whatever happened this year. Let’s laugh about the funny things. That’s what life’s about.”
For chef DJ Flores, owner of Spring Valley restaurant Milpa, stone-ground corn masa will also appear in two traditional Mexican holiday beverages. His seasonal menu includes champurrado, a hot chocolate with corn masa, cinnamon, and chocolate from the Indigenous region of Oaxaca. “It brings me back to my childhood,” Flores says.
For vegan holiday options, try Milpa’s atole, an unforgettable mix of guava, piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar), corn masa, and cinnamon. Their seasonal tamales include a chicken mole tamal that can be made vegan with cauliflower and a sauce created with vegetable shortening (instead of lard) and veggie stock. Flores says he’s respecting tradition, but with a health-conscious twist. “That’s where Mexican food is heading. We need to think about what we’re eating,” he says.
On the Strip, Chef Carlos Cruz-Santos of China Poblano is cooking up both savory and sweet holiday tamales. The Chinese and Mexican concept at Cosmopolitan is serving a beef shank tamal with mole negro and a chocolate tamal with cafe de olla ice cream. The team is also preparing tamales for the whole staff and sharing them with Jaleo, another Jose Andres restaurant on property.
“That’s our family. Everybody gets a little gift. It makes me feel good when I can feed people and make them happy,” Cruz-Santos says. It’ll take several days to prepare the tamales for both restaurants, but the process provides a nice dose of nostalgia. “I always think, is this a tamal my family would be proud of? Would my grandma eat this? I think not only, would Jose (Andres) like it, but also, would my mom like it? Because that’s our food. Tamales come from our history, our people.”
