I’ll never forget arriving by bus in Mexico City a few years ago, famished, and finding a well-stocked tamale stand in the middle of the bus station. At that moment, I felt as though I’d never seen a more beautiful sight. Behind the counter, steaming pots were stacked high with half a dozen kinds of tamales: peppers and cheese, chicken, pork, seafood. I bought two or three, unwrapped them on a narrow bar and dug in. They were moist and savory, and their hot masa dough wrappings practically melted in my mouth. I was in heaven. 

It turns out that tamale styles vary by region and maker in Mexico. The San Francisco Chronicle recently offered a helpful guide. It seems that, in Mexico, you can find a tamale for practically any taste.

Writes Christine Delsol:

The most popular rellenos (fillings) are pork and cheese, but might be anything from fish to iguana, augmented by pumpkin, pineapple rice or peanuts, and tucked into a blanket of yellow, black or purple corn dough called masa. They may be baked, steamed or grilled in a jacket of dried corn husks or fresh corn or banana leaves. Sometimes tamales are even wrapped in palm, avocado or leaves of chaya (a spinach-like vegetable).

She details tamale styles from the seafood-stuffed variety of Sinaloa to the mole-filled tamales of Oaxaca.

Warning: Reading it on an empty stomach, in particular, can cause serious foodie wanderlust.

Photo by ann-dabney via Flickr, (Creative Commons).