Tamales: I have long been dissuaded by the lore that they are difficult and time consuming to make, but on further investigation it would appear that while labor intensive, they are quite doable even for a hopeless Anglo-honkie like meinzelf.
I used to buy them in Talent, Oregon, from a small, quiet, older hispanic fella who stood outside the liquor store with a cooler and would almost whisper, "Tamales, one dollar seńor" when you walked by, God bless his heart.


https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/mexican-tamales/

Tamales are a South American delight. I used to think they were just from Mexico. Then our housekeeper brought us some Colombian tamales. https://www.mycolombianrecipes...ombianos-de-mi-mama/ They were chicken with the bones still in them. Not my cup of tea.

At a New Year's Eve party this year the host, a Peruvian, served a wonderful grilled octopus appetizer, followed by a Peruvian tamale appetizer. https://www.quericavida.com/re...37-a69e-006b5ab4da02

Then you come to Argentina and their Tamales Saltenos. https://www.tasteatlas.com/tamales-saltenos

Next you have your Brazilian Pamonha https://travelfoodatlas.com/brazilian-pamonha-recipe

Then you have the Bolivian tamale (Humita) https://chipabythedozen.com/en...as-bolivian-tamales/ (Humitas are also popular in Chile and Ecuador.) https://www.chileanfoodandgard...-o-tamales-de-elote/

It just goes on and on.

Even Venezuela, who has their version of a tamale called a Hallaca. A Hallaca is a tamale on steroids. https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/venezuelan-tamales A Venezuelan woman and her mother from Frisco make them and sell them out of their home every Christmas. My wife always buys a couple dozen.

I won't ever try to make a tamale, but I will eat the hell out of them.

I used to get tamales and empanadas from a Peruvian woman when I worked in the city she sold in. Fantastic.

They are labor intensive and require a famiy production line,, pig head meat is the best.

Much easier now that you can buy cleaned and prepared shucks. I remember my mother and a neighbor preparing the shucks, cleaning out the silks and worms. I think they used lye, but don't really remember. I was too young.