📩 For the latest, follow us on Instagram, or sign up for our newsletter.
Fall in the South belongs to hot tamales.
Not to be confused with traditional Mexican tamales, the tamales of the Mississippi Delta region are cylindrical, the size of a cigar and simmered in a spicy broth. They are still wrapped in corn husk and include cornmeal, but Delta hot tamales represent the rich culinary history and cultural collision of Mexican, Black and Southern cultures in the area.
You might remember hot tamales’ recent star turn in the movie Sinners, the horror movie set in 1932 Clarksdale, Mississippi, that uses the tamale shop to showcase how Mexican tamale traditions were adapted and embraced by Black communities in the Mississippi Delta.
Every October, Greenville, MS hosts the Delta Hot Tamale Festival, a three-day event that celebrates local and regional artists, musicians, and tamale makers as well as some of the South’s most influential chefs and writers.
If October is out, you can satisfy those hot tamale hankerings year round with a trip to the Delta Tamale Trail. Pair the region’s rich mix of food traditions with a road trip through small towns, live blues and soulful hotels, and you’ve got one of the South’s tastiest traditions, still having a moment, one bite at a time.
Here’s where to unwrap the legend, one stop at a time:
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Late Checkout to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.