Local restaurant owner passes down a tasty family tradition of the art of making tamales

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — For many families, the winter season is the time to gather for presents and food. But for many Latino and Hispanic families, it’s a time to come together to celebrate with tamales.

“You’re unwrapping a gift, it’s a present. And sometimes that’s all there was to give besides materialistic stuff, you gave food,” said Maria Carpenter Ostos, Co-Owner of Maria’s .

Maria Carpenter Ostos has been making tamales with her family for years. The dish comes wrapped in a corn husk with a variety of flavors, from both savory to sweet.

“You can make a whole meal out of it. Especially if you got more than one flavor in the middle, people like to put meats in them, people like to put, for the sweet ones, bananas and raisins, cinnamon. You do chicken, pork, beef, whatever. There’s vegetarian ones, refried beans, rajas in them. But they’re steamed corn masa is how I always just described it,” said Ostos.

Since 2020, Maria has been sharing the tradition of making tamales through classes. With her direction, the dish that usually takes several hours to both prepare and cook was brought down to only a few.

“To share cultural history and then my own personal family history with the recipes as they’re learning it has been rewarding, very rewarding for me,” said Ostos

But the meaning behind the tamale isn’t just about the deliciousness of what’s inside, but who it is meant for.

“My grandchildren already know how to make them. So I have nieces and nephews, all my children, I have my sister, her kids, like we have already begun the passing down of this tradition. And it is something that I tell everybody in the classroom too, like make it fun, bring in your children. This isn’t something that has to be precise, it doesn’t have to be exact, there’s fun in the odd looking tamales, you know,” said Ostos.

If you are interested in learning more about making tamales, Maria will begin hosting classes again in the fall.