By Carmen Rioja
Today, February 2, we celebrate Candlemas Day, and those who got the “muñequito” in the “rosca de Reyes” on January 6, will have to pay for tamales on this day. The Mexican gastronomic wealth is so vast that not even the most adventurous families would be able to know and try all the tamale recipes that exist. The National Institute of Anthropology and History registers more than 400 recipes that are multiplied in nearly 2,000 varieties of tamales by region and family customs. Tamales are associated with birthdays, baptisms, weddings and, finally—tamales cannot be missing in all posadas and important meetings—especially on the day of the dead and funerals. The tamales and the atole are indispensable.
If you have to pay for the tamales and you don’t know where to buy them, every morning there are, in front of the Local Livestock Association on the road to Los Rodríguez, some ladies with exquisite tamales. Arrive before 9am because the two pots run out. Also highly recommended are the classics on Calle Insurgentes, next to the Oratorio. And those who do by request for meetings, the nuns in the Convent of La Purísima Concepción. At the truck stop on Calle Calzada de La Luz, on the corner of Ánimas, there are other delicious but spicy ones. And to eat sitting down on a Sunday with the family, those of the Café de La Parroquia on Calle de Jesús.
For all evil, a tamale, and for all good, too. ¡Buen provecho!
