On their Facebook page, The Bakersfield Californian recently asked, “Christmas is here and we’re wondering where you go to get your holiday tamales?” Growing up in California, this question seems perfectly reasonable, but when I shared the question with my midwest and east-coast friends, they were both confused and amused. “Holiday tamales?” they asked, and I assured them that holiday tamales were indeed “a thing.”
Tamales are ubiquitous in California’s Central Valley as well as throughout much of the American west and southwest. In Hispanic families, mothers, grandmothers, daughters, nieces, and extended female relatives gather during the holidays and, in an assembly-line fashion, make these cornmeal delicacies. Most of the tamales are for friends and family to enjoy, but some entrepreneurial women pack the tamales into ice chests (often the styrofoam kind that bait shops stock) and sell tamales door-to-door in business districts, set up little stands on busy street corners, or sell to their coworkers. Currently (2014), one of my coworkers has fliers posted in the break rooms advertising homemade tamales (chicken, beef, or cheese) for $3.00 a piece. Tamales and tamale vendors have a long and interesting history, and while Bakersfield is certainly not unique, Bakersfield’s tamale history shows that the delicacy has been been “a thing” for a long time.
Tamales are the perfect convenience food: they can easily be prepared and cooked in bulk; are already perfectly portioned; and the corn husk in which they are cooked provides an easily portable receptacle, which later doubles as both plate and napkin. While considered a Mexican food today, tamales are actually Native American and could be found throughout the Americas wherever corn was grown. For example, Captain John Smith found Native Americans in the Virginia colony preparing a tamale-like food in 1612!
By the 19th century, tamales were associated with Mexican culture (or, even more confusing, Spanish culture) but were enjoyed by all walks of life. Specialized tamale vendors date back to at least the 1890s. In 1892, Robert H. Putnam of San Francisco founded the California Chicken Tamale Company with the goal to sell tamales throughout the country. That year, he had approximately 500 tamale vendors in Chicago in preparation for the World’s Fair. It doesn’t appear that any of the California Chicken Tamale Company’s tamale vendors were in Bakersfield, but Bakersfield had its own thriving tamale industry. On December 6, 1892, the Californian (a predecessor to today’s Bakersfield Californian) featured an article entitled “The Tamale Industry” that chronicles the tamale and tamale vendor in Bakersfield and throughout California:
The tamale man is not to be despised in any California community. From the rising of the sun to the going down thereof peace may reign, but when the shades of evening gather and the night is fully clothed in the somber garments of Erebus and silence sits ‘neath the stars in all the loveliness of June or December, the circumambient air is disturbed by the melodious cry of the vendor:
“Tamales! Red-hot tamales! Only ten cents apiece, or three for a quarter. Buy my tamales."
With bucket in hand he trudges along, and again, as if life depended upon the possession of one of his manufactured specimens of Spanish invention, he again cries out:
“Tamale; chicken tamale; fresh and hot chicken tamale”
And perchance he finds a purchaser, who unrolls the canny bundle wrapped in corn husks, fishing therefrom the layers of corn meal baked in steam and occasionally the bone of a chicken - probably a rabbit or squirrel or what is it? All these ingredients are so fantastically spiced with Chili pepper and other condiments that the most exquisite connoisseurs could not detect a fraud. His lips tingle with the sharp pricklings of the peppers, and he opens his mouth to invite the cool air, but he has a vast amount of courage in suppressing the thoughts and suggestions that take shape.
On every train from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and still on to a point where the
observation of man runneth not to the contrary, this eloquent and obtrusive vendor of the sacred tamale is found at every station during the night.
They have plants everywhere for the manufacture of this commodity, and in the still hours of the night the baleful voice of the vender [sic] is heard, regular as the town clock, until every light is extinguished and every brothel is closed. In Bakersfield and in Sumner the fiend has a home and a plant. Chickens do not seem to diminish nor prices increase. The jack-rabbit flourishes and the squirrel has his hole in the ground, but the tamale goes on forever - the chicken tamale.
The article references train station and brothels - both areas frequented by hungry men looking for a fast and cheap meal. In the 1890s, most of Bakersfield’s brothels were found in the area around 20th and K streets. At the time the above article was written, the only train depot was located in Sumner (East Bakersfield). In 1901, there were at least three separate tamale vendors who set up shop near the train depot, and in January they had an argument: “The three hot tamale vendors, who can be seen near the depot every night, had some kind of misunderstanding late last night and resolved to settle the difficulty with their fists. For several minutes a lively fight ensued, but finally two of the participants withdrew leaving the third to sell his wares as he saw fit to sell them.”
Not only were tamales sold by street vendors, but saloons also sold the delicacies. In 1903, the Peerless Saloon at 1819 Chester sold their “celebrated Peerless tamales” for 25 cents each or 3 for 50 cents. It is unclear why the tamales were “celebrated.”
There was often a question of the quality of the tamales (Was that meat really chicken?). In 1905, the Louvre saloon at 19th and K (in the heart of Bakersfield’s red light district) assured customers that their tamales “will be of the finest quality and a lady who has had years of experience has been engaged to devote her entire time to making them for the Louvre.”
In 1905, a restaurant specializing in tamales opened up at Chester avenue and 20th street: “Mrs. Cress, late of Fresno, will open her tamale grotto at 2011 Chester avenue, opposite the Grand Hotel, tomorrow night, and those fond of this delicacy or of Spanish dishes generally will do well to give Mrs. Cress a call. She has had a long experience in the business and is an expert in the line named.” The Tamale Grotto also served enchiladas and “Spanish dinners.” In 1909, the Tamale Grotto moved to 1528 Twentieth Street.
Tamales weren’t strictly a street food or food served to working or drinking men. Tamales were also served in the respectable parts of town. On January 25, 1894, the ladies of the Christian Endeavor Society hosted a “Hot Tamale Social,” which The Daily Californian reported was “well attended and the tamales could not be excelled in quality and tamaleness by all of Mexico. Quite a handsome sum was netted for the benefit of Rev. A. B. Markle.” Tamales were also sold at fundraisers for the ladies’ auxiliaries of St. Paul’s Episcopal church as well as St. Francis Catholic church during the early 1900s. Various clubs and fraternal organizations also had tamale dinners during their meetings. In 1905, some Bakersfield residents even started the “Tamale Club,” but for what purpose is unclear although it seems like card games were usually played at meetings.
The next time you open up the warm cornhusk wrapper and bite into the delicious cornmeal mush, remember that you are enjoying a taste that has been enjoyed for generations and by people from all walks of life.
For additional information about the tamale phenomena, please see:
Gourmet Sleuth - TamalesThey have plants everywhere for the manufacture of this commodity, and in the still hours of the night the baleful voice of the vender [sic] is heard, regular as the town clock, until every light is extinguished and every brothel is closed. In Bakersfield and in Sumner the fiend has a home and a plant. Chickens do not seem to diminish nor prices increase. The jack-rabbit flourishes and the squirrel has his hole in the ground, but the tamale goes on forever - the chicken tamale.
The article references train station and brothels - both areas frequented by hungry men looking for a fast and cheap meal. In the 1890s, most of Bakersfield’s brothels were found in the area around 20th and K streets. At the time the above article was written, the only train depot was located in Sumner (East Bakersfield). In 1901, there were at least three separate tamale vendors who set up shop near the train depot, and in January they had an argument: “The three hot tamale vendors, who can be seen near the depot every night, had some kind of misunderstanding late last night and resolved to settle the difficulty with their fists. For several minutes a lively fight ensued, but finally two of the participants withdrew leaving the third to sell his wares as he saw fit to sell them.”
Not only were tamales sold by street vendors, but saloons also sold the delicacies. In 1903, the Peerless Saloon at 1819 Chester sold their “celebrated Peerless tamales” for 25 cents each or 3 for 50 cents. It is unclear why the tamales were “celebrated.”
There was often a question of the quality of the tamales (Was that meat really chicken?). In 1905, the Louvre saloon at 19th and K (in the heart of Bakersfield’s red light district) assured customers that their tamales “will be of the finest quality and a lady who has had years of experience has been engaged to devote her entire time to making them for the Louvre.”
In 1905, a restaurant specializing in tamales opened up at Chester avenue and 20th street: “Mrs. Cress, late of Fresno, will open her tamale grotto at 2011 Chester avenue, opposite the Grand Hotel, tomorrow night, and those fond of this delicacy or of Spanish dishes generally will do well to give Mrs. Cress a call. She has had a long experience in the business and is an expert in the line named.” The Tamale Grotto also served enchiladas and “Spanish dinners.” In 1909, the Tamale Grotto moved to 1528 Twentieth Street.
Tamales weren’t strictly a street food or food served to working or drinking men. Tamales were also served in the respectable parts of town. On January 25, 1894, the ladies of the Christian Endeavor Society hosted a “Hot Tamale Social,” which The Daily Californian reported was “well attended and the tamales could not be excelled in quality and tamaleness by all of Mexico. Quite a handsome sum was netted for the benefit of Rev. A. B. Markle.” Tamales were also sold at fundraisers for the ladies’ auxiliaries of St. Paul’s Episcopal church as well as St. Francis Catholic church during the early 1900s. Various clubs and fraternal organizations also had tamale dinners during their meetings. In 1905, some Bakersfield residents even started the “Tamale Club,” but for what purpose is unclear although it seems like card games were usually played at meetings.
The next time you open up the warm cornhusk wrapper and bite into the delicious cornmeal mush, remember that you are enjoying a taste that has been enjoyed for generations and by people from all walks of life.
For additional information about the tamale phenomena, please see:
and
SF Weekly - When We Were Red Hot
