TAMALE TRAIL PART OF MOST SOUTHERN WEEKEND ON EARTH THIS WEEKEND IN CLARKSDALE, MS

This weekend, July 9 and 10, is being billed as "The Most Southern Weekend on Earth." The Oxford American magazine is hosting a series of events in Clarksdale, featuring food, lectures and, of course, live music. As part of the event, Amy Evans Streeter, chief architect of the Tamale Trail, will be moderating a Mississippi Delta Hot Tamale Trail Talk & Tasting at Delta Amusement on Saturday, June 9 at 11 a.m. The event is free, so come on down, if you're in the area!

Visit the Oxford American website for more info.

NEW ONLINE MAGAZINE FEATURES THE TAMALE TRAIL

The Zenchilada, a new online magazine out of New Mexico, features a wonderful piece on Delta tamales and the Tamale Trail in its inaugural issue. The article is written by SFA friend and Craig Claiborne Lifetime Achievement Award winner Ronni Lundy. Scroll through the pages at the bottom of the website to get to the tamale article, which appears on pages 48-55.

TAMALE CART ADDED TO MUSEUM COLLECTION IN CORINTH, MISSISSIPPI

(Photo by Amy C. Evans)

From the Daily Corinthian:

The Crossroads Depot Museum will bring back some tasty Corinth memories at the unveiling of the historic Corinth Tamale bicycle cart.

Crossroads Museum Interim Director Ed Lucas said a special evening is planned for the unveiling of the newly restored Corinth Tamale bicycle cart in the Crossroads Museum’s Exhibit Room at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23.....

...The late L.C. Dilworth went into business in 1961, but did not open his shop until February of 1962. He opened a little restaurant — with a table or two — where customers could come in and sit down while they enjoyed their tamales and some conversation.....

...Information from the museum states: “... with ingenuity, determination and a lot of work, he [Dilworth] put together his tamale bicycle. He made a tricycle out of a Schwinn bicycle, mounted a box on the back and the tamale was on the road again and Dilworth’s Red Hot Tamales was still making the rounds, finding the customers, but now traveling in style.”

Read the full article.

TAMALES IN ALABAMA

The Birmingham News recently profiled D's Tamales To Go in Hueytown, AL, giving a shout-out to the Tamale Trail:

In some parts of the South, there is a tamale tradition within African-American communities. This is most common in the Mississippi Delta, where you actually can eat your way along a “tamale trail” (go towww.tamaletrail.com and check it out.) As fun as that would be, truth is, you don’t have to travel very far for really good, homemade hot tamales. 
  
 Just go to Hueytown. 
 
Darryl “D” Crockett’s family has honored a tamale tradition for some four decades. Crockett, who originally is from Louisiana, began cooking tamales back in the 1970s, and for about two years now, he’s been serving fresh, hot tamales (made according to his Aunt Neomia’s recipe) at his small, but colorful, tamale shack in Hueytown Plaza. At D’s Tamales To Go, little dancing peppers, outfitted in sombreros and cowboy boots, decorate the windows of this former barbecue joint. (Remember Let’s Eat Smoked Meat?) There’s also a sign in the window for Italian ice. Nothing wrong with a little diversity. Read more...

*NEW* INTERACTIVE MAP FEATURE!

We've just unveiled a new interactive map feature for the Tamale Trail, which plots all of the oral history locations in our online archive. Use the map to create custom road trips, stopping at documented locations along the way, or simply locate a tamale stand anywhere from Tunica to Vicksburg. Click on the stars to learn about each location, where you also have the option to track back to the oral history interview.

Grab a napkin and go!

'TIS THE SEASON FOR TAMALES

 
DOE SIGNA JR - DOE'S EAT PLACE from Southern Foodways on Vimeo.
After the last acre of cotton has been harvested and cool weather hits the Mississippi Delta, demand for hot tamales reaches a fever pitch. Many Deltans are of the opinion that this Delta delicacy is a food best enjoyed during the winter months, and many more make sure to have a few dozen tamales at the family table when holiday season rolls around. The Signa family, owners of Doe's Eat Place in Greenville, has been meeting this seasonal demand annually for more than six decades. Doe Signa, Jr. and his brother, Charles, continue the tradition their father started all those years ago. Here, Doe shares a couple of secrets about the family's recipe. 
Visit Doe's oral history here on the Tamale Trail, and learn more about Doe's Eat Place by visiting our documentary project that celebrates this iconic Delta restaurant.

BOURBON MALL BURNS DOWN

The Bourbon Mall in Leland, Mississippi, a favorite stop on the Tamale Trail for fried hot tamales, burned to the ground in the early morning hours of October 7. Surrounded by fields of soybeans and sunflowers, its remote location was not only its charm, but its downfall. The cause of the fire is not yet known. We don't know what the future might hold for this Delta icon, either, but we're certainly glad we captured its history. Read our 2005 oral history interview with owner Mark Azlin right here.

Coincidentally, John Currence, chef-owner of City Grocery Restaurant in Oxford, and SFA filmmaker Joe York, made a short film about their recent trek to the Bourbon Mall for Garden & Gun magazine. You can view the film on the magazine's website.