If you’ve ever spent time in the Mississippi Delta, you likely noticed, among other things, the presence of tamales on nearly every menu and tamale stands in most towns. Sometimes literally driving down the highway.

A Delta staple, tamales are as prevalent as booze and catfish, and folks across the world visit the Delta to take advantage of the Tamale Trail and the Delta Hot Tamale Festival.

According to Amy C. Evans, oral historian for the Southern Foodways Alliance, “The history of the hot tamale in the Mississippi Delta reaches back to at least the early twentieth century.  

Reverend Moses Mason, recording as Red Hot Ole Mose, cut “Molly Man” in 1928.

Bluesman Robert Johnson recorded “They’re Red Hot” in 1936…. 

Some hypothesize that tamales made their way to the Mississippi Delta in the early twentieth century when migrant laborers from Mexico arrived to work the cotton harvest. African Americans who labored alongside Mexican migrants recognized the basic tamale ingredients: corn meal and pork. 

 Others maintain that the Delta history with tamales goes back to the U.S.-Mexican War one hundred years earlier, when U.S. soldiers traveled to Mexico and brought tamale recipes home with them. Others still argue that tamales date to the Mississippian culture of mound-building Native Americans….

Whatever their origins, hot tamales have been a staple of Delta communities for generations. Tamales proved a hearty food, easily transported warm to chilly cotton fields during the fall picking season. Once the cotton harvest was complete, African American vendors exploited streetcorner economic opportunities to sell bundles of tamales from pushcarts and stands. Today, African Americans are the primary keepers of Delta tamale-making tradition.”