Editing Tamale (section)

==United States==
[[File:Mississippi tamale.jpg|thumb|right|Delta-style tamales from [[Clarksdale, Mississippi]]]]

While Mexican-style and other Latin American-style tamales are featured at ethnic restaurants throughout the United States, some distinctly indigenous styles also are made.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

The [[Choctaw]] and [[Chickasaw]] make a dish called ''banaha'', which can be stuffed or not (plain). Usually, the filling (ranging from none, fried bacon, turkey, deer, nuts, and vegetables such as onions, potatoes, squash, and sweet potatoes) can either be filled or mixed with the masa and steamed in a corn husk.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

[[Cherokee]] tamales, also known as bean bread or "broadswords", were made with hominy (in the case of the Cherokee, the masa was made from corn boiled in water treated with wood ashes instead of lime) and beans, and wrapped in green corn leaves or large tree leaves and boiled, similar to the meatless pre-Columbian bean and masa tamales still prepared in Chiapas, central Mexico, and Guatemala.

In northern Louisiana, tamales have been made for several centuries. The Spanish established presidio [[Los Adaes]] in 1721 in modern-day [[Robeline, Louisiana]]. The descendants of these Spanish settlers from central Mexico were the first tamale makers to arrive in the eastern US. [[Zwolle, Louisiana]], has a Tamale Fiesta every year in October.

In the [[Mississippi Delta]], African Americans developed a spicy tamale called the [[Hot tamale (food)|hot tamale]] that is made from [[cornmeal]] instead of masa and is boiled in corn husks.<ref name="zeldes" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tamaletrail.com/ |title=Hot Tamale Trail – Tamales in the Mississippi Delta |publisher=Tamaletrail.com |date=2011-08-26 |access-date=2013-12-15 |archive-date=2013-01-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121142325/http://www.tamaletrail.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |work=All Things Considered |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5357500 |title=Tamales, Another Treat from the Delta |publisher=NPR |access-date=2013-12-15 |archive-date=2013-12-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204031814/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5357500 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Tamales have been eaten in the broader United States since at least 1893, when they were featured at the [[World's Columbian Exposition]].<ref name="zeldes">{{cite web | last = Zeldes | first = Leah A. | title = The unique Chicago tamale, a tuneful mystery | work = Dining Chicago | publisher = Chicago's Restaurant & Entertainment Guide | date = Dec 18, 2009 | url = http://blog.diningchicago.com/2009/12/18/the-unique-chicago-tamale-a-tuneful-mystery/ | access-date = Dec 18, 2009 | archive-date = December 21, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091221190811/http://blog.diningchicago.com/2009/12/18/the-unique-chicago-tamale-a-tuneful-mystery/ | url-status = dead }}</ref> In 1894, when tamales were the most popular ethnic food in Los Angeles, [[XLNT Foods]] started making them. The company is the oldest continuously operating Mexican food brand in the United States, and one of the oldest companies in Southern California.<ref name="LAT 2019-12-23">{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-23/xlnt-tamales-long-beach-santa-fe-importers|title=The XLNT tamales go back 125 years, capturing nostalgia for Californians across the U.S.|last=Arellano|first=Gustavo|date=2019-12-23|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-31|archive-date=2019-12-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231044122/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-23/xlnt-tamales-long-beach-santa-fe-importers|url-status=live}}</ref>

A tradition of roving tamale sellers was documented in early 20th-century [[blues music]].<ref name="zeldes" /> They are the subject of the well-known 1937 blues/ragtime song "[[They're Red Hot]]" by [[Robert Johnson (musician)|Robert Johnson]].

[[File:Tamale pie.jpg|thumb|[[Tamale pie]]]]

Around the beginning of the 20th century, the name "[[tamale pie]]" was given to meat pies and casseroles made with a cornmeal crust and typical tamale fillings arranged in layers. Although characterized as Mexican food, these forms are not popular in Mexican American culture in which the individually wrapped style is preferred.<ref name="ZangerOxford">{{cite book |last= Zanger |first= Mark H. |editor= Andrew F. Smith |title= The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink |chapter= Tamale pie |page= [https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000unse_e9i9/page/581 581] |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AoWlCmNDA3QC |date= May 1, 2007 |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn= 978-0-19-530796-2 |access-date= December 27, 2012 |url= https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000unse_e9i9/page/581 }}</ref>

The Indio International Tamale Festival held every December in [[Indio, California]], has earned two Guinness World Records: the largest tamale festival (154 000 in attendance, December  2002)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Largest tamale festival |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/77029-largest-tamale-festival |access-date=2022-07-21 |website=Guinness World Records |date=December 2002 |language=en-gb |archive-date=2022-07-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721171838/https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/77029-largest-tamale-festival |url-status=live }}</ref> and the world's largest tamale, over one foot (0.3 m) in diameter and 40 feet (12.2 m) in length, created by Chef John Sedlar, since beaten by H. Ayuntamiento de Centro Villahermosa (Mexico) in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico, on 25 November 2018. The current record stands at 50.05 m.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Longest steamed corn flour cake |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-tamale |access-date=2022-07-21 |website=Guinness World Records |date=25 November 2018 |language=en-gb |archive-date=2021-12-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208180059/https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-tamale/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The 2006 Guinness book calls the festival "the world's largest cooking and culinary festival".{{Citation needed|date=December 2019}}