Gourmet Tamales

Amirasolo and Other Essays

Part 2. Tondo on my Mind

Essay 19. GOURMET TAMALES

I love tamales. It was my mother who introduced it to me. I didn’t like it the first time I tasted it. But the next time she brought home another one, I began to acquire a liking for it.

Mama Ninay bought me the tamales many decades ago, when I was still in  grade school,  from a vendor selling tamales, suman, and kesong-puti outside the Sto. Niño church in Tondo. They are still being sold there every Sunday morning. My wife Carina knows my craving for tamales, that’s why she makes it a point to buy me those whenever she has the chance.

Carina asked the vendor where the tamales she's selling came from. The vendor answered Bulacan. I was a bit surprised because I thought all along that her tamales was from Pampanga, from where I knew that delicacy originated, and where they called it bobotu.

The tamales Carina buys nowadays seems thinner than those being sold just so many years ago. But no matter, the taste remains the same. They still taste good to me. That's why I haven't lost my craving for it.

Imagine my excitement therefore when one day in 1996 publisher Reni Roxas of Tahanan Books broke to me the news that they chose me to illustrate Didith Tan-Rodrigo’s book “Tamales Day”. The job entailed not only doing the illustrations, but also visiting Didith’s house to take pictures of her family while making tamales, and of course, tasting it and taking home a few pieces more.

Here is an excerpt from the essay I wrote for Tahanan Books’ “The House Tahanan Built”---
a compilation of memoirs and conversations about the creative process written by the authors, artists, staff, and friends of Tahanan Books.

“…I next did for Tahanan the illustrations for Didith Tan-Rodrigo‘s story “Tamales Day”. Now, the process of creating art for this book was a very delectable one, I must say, because I was invited by Didith to their home to observe and take pictures of them while making tamales.

“Their tamales is not like the Mexican tamales ---far from it. Nor is it the ordinary Kapampangan tamales. Their recipe is their own high-end version, which I once described in a Facebook write-up as gourmet tamales. “Why gourmet?”, you’d ask. Well, that’s because their recipe includes as ingredients---aside from the usual strips of chicken and salted eggs---peanuts, ham, chestnuts, and shrimps.

“Didith told me that someone suggested once that they make a business of their recipe and offer franchises. They considered that suggestion but didn’t act on it. They somehow felt that the business won’t be feasible because pricing their product would be tricky, precisely because of the high cost of the ingredients. That’s why I felt lucky then, and special, because I get to taste the tamales that had been denied many others.”

Didith, by the way, is a daughter of Ambassador Bienvenido Tan, the founder of Bookmark. And Tamales Day is a day in December when the Tan family gathers to cook tamales, using a heirloom recipe handed down by Didith’s Kapampangan grandmother.