What the ‘tamale poll’ says about coronavirus, Christmas and large gatherings By Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times
Published: December 20, 2020, 11:57am
Share: LOS ANGELES-CA-DECEMBER 4, 2020: Workers including Maria Franco, center, and Lucy Torres, foreground, make tamales at Tamales Liliana s in Los Angeles on Friday, December 4, 2020. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times/TNS)
LOS ANGELES – It looked like business as usual on the assembly line.
Four men behind the counter of Tamales Liliana’s in Boyle Heights were scooping up masa with their hands and smearing it on opened corn husks. Six women then filled them with slits of green chile and cheese before folding and wrapping them in baking paper. Nearby, Juan Manuel Santoyo took stock of the ritual.
By DJ LEZLEE
Dec 17, 2020
Tamales are not just a holiday favorite . it s Tradition. The Los Angeles Times caught up with Juan Manuel Santoyo, the owner of
Liliana s Tamales in Boyle Heights as he shared his concern about tamale sales this year due to the surge of Covid-19.
Santoyo says on average he sells up to 40,000 tamales on Thanksgiving Day, but this year he didn t even hit the 20,000 mark. “Our tradition is to gather with family. And you may have four to five families at a home and so you might order 20 tamales,” he said. “But that’s not happening. You’re going to celebrate with your own family and, rather than ordering 20 tamales, you might order five.”
What the tamale poll says about coronavirus, Christmas and large gatherings bakersfield.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bakersfield.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
It looked like business as usual on the assembly line.
Four men behind the counter of Tamales Liliana’s in Boyle Heights were scooping up masa with their hands and smearing it on opened corn husks. Six women then filled them with slits of green chile and cheese before folding and wrapping them in baking paper. Nearby, Juan Manuel Santoyo took stock of the ritual.
“I spend a good amount of time making tamales to sell during the week of Christmas,” the 67-year-old restaurant owner said. “It’s what we rely on to get us through the year.”
For many Mexican and Central American families, a Christmas without tamales feels like culinary heresy. The last month of the year is filled with Latino holiday traditions and festivities such as