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.

DELTA TAMALES IN CHICAGO

Photo by Rene G

Rene G, Chicago resident and friend of the Tamale Trail, just alerted us to Yoland Cannon's "Mississippi Delta Hot Tamale" cart that recently surfaced on a street corner on Chicago's West Side. For more information on Delta tamales in Chicago, visit our Chicago Connection page and the LTHForum (a Chicago-based culinary chat site) thread on the subject.

TAMALE TRAIL IN SAVEUR

Amy Evans, SFA oral historian and collector of the interviews featured here on the Trail, talks tamales in the October issue of Saveur magazine. The Tamale Trail is also featured as one of their Web exclusives, a online section that elaborates on subjects that appear in the magazine.

After you've read about Delta tamales, spend some time with the other culinary treasures Saveur has highlighted from the Magnolia State. Better yet, head to Mississippi and taste for yourself!

TAMALE TRAIL IN GARDEN & GUN

The Tamale Trail is featured in the September/October 2009 issue of Garden & Gun magazine. Look for mention of the Bourbon Mall's fried tamales in the magazine's "Secrets of the South" feature, which also lists a link to the Trail.