The large and fluffy tamale few know

The Guatemalan tamale, a culinary icon in its native land, is a large, fluffy dumpling wrapped in a vibrant green banana leaf, filled with spicy pork, peppers, and olives. In 2013, archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli made a significant discovery inside a 6th Century Mayan pyramid in Guatemala's Petén region. He found a massive carved frieze depicting a mythological scene where a Mayan king in apotheosis is flanked by two ancestor gods, each presenting a round-shaped offering. The glyph beneath the scene reads: The first tamale. This discovery was a monumental moment in Estrada-Belli's career, revealing the profound symbolism and fundamental importance of the tamale in Mayan culture.

In the English-speaking world, the term tamale is typically associated with the delectable Mexican husk-wrapped cornmeal dumplings. However, tamales may have originated in Guatemala, Mexico's Southern neighbor and a significant Mayan center. Estrada-Belli notes that images of tamales in Guatemala predate the time of Christ. For instance, the San Bartolo mural discovered in Guatemala's Ixcan River Basin in 2001, depicts a maize ceremony and a woman holding three corn balls, which are tamales. This mural dates back to 50 BC, making it older than any other mural found in Mexico or elsewhere.

Archaeological evidence not only suggests Guatemala as the birthplace of tamales, but their depictions in Guatemalan Mayan art and ancient texts like the Dresden Codex (a 12th Century Mayan book) and the Florentine Codex, a 16th Century anthropological study of the Mesoamerican peoples, indicate that they evolved from naked balls of cornmeal called wa'aj. In a particular frieze, an ancestor god is seen offering a tamal to the Mayan king. According to archaeogastronomist Regina Moraga, wa'aj translates to 'sacred food of the gods'. There's no evidence that they were initially wrapped in leaves. It was only after Columbus's arrival and the influx of new ingredients that the cornmeal balls took their iconic leaf-swaddled form. The name tamale derives from the Nahuatl (Aztec language) word tamali, which means 'wrapped'.