Honoring the Tamale Calls of Mexico City

Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 11.24.08 | 10:28 AM ET

It’s not quite a call to prayer. It’s more like a call to chow down. The Los Angeles Times pays homage to the sounds of the city’s neighborhood food vendors with this fine little video. Writes Ken Ellingwood: “You hear it from a block away: an amplified, singsong call with an uncanny power to slice through the urban din. The tone is cheap and tinny—as kitschy as a sound can be. And it’s my favorite in Mexico City.”