Welcome to Mexico! This week's food is Tamales. They consist of meat and a bunch of spices with wrapped in cornbread, grilled or boiled in corn husks. Tamales were originally created by women who had to cook portable, protein filled food for soldiers during times of war.Tamale is derived from the word tamalii from the Nahuatl language spoken by the Aztecs It means wrapped food. Tamales are eaten year-round, especially during the holiday season. It is also often treated as a group activity/ chore, so one family might invite another family over to make and eat tamales, for example. I made mine with pork, but they can be made with a different type of meat or even vegetables.
This week I have bought the ingredients and found my recipe, and I cooked the tamales over the weekend. I have decided to change my schedule so that instead of bringing in food on Fridays, I'll be bringing it in on the Monday following the previously scheduled Friday. This way the food won't distract from the other people's 20 time projects, and I will have the weekend to prepare the food. This and last week have been especially crazy for me at home because of some water damage, but I have been cooking at other people's houses and finding ways to get the cooking done. I am really sad about this because I was looking forward to using my own kitchen. Also, I didn't think about making vegan or vegetarian options until later, so I won't be able to have food for some people tomorrow. The world is full of bumps like that, so it is actually a very symbolic problem to run into. As a matter of fact, meat is a staple all around the globe, as well as other animal products. Traveling and eating ethnic foods could be very difficult for people with these eating choices or other specific diets (allergies, organic only, cholesterol-abundant, etc.). I will keep it in mind for the rest of the project, though.
The tamales this week were pretty hard and time consuming to make, but this is also an accurate representation of how Mexicans prepare food. Simple, yet slow cooking. They're sure to be a hit!