WATCH: Chicago's Tamale Ladies
By Anthony Todd in Food on Jan 2, 2013 4:00PM
It's sometimes easy to forget that rockstar chefs and farmers aren't the only people in the food industry with stories worth telling. Tamale sellers, fixtures of the Chicago landscape, aren't just faceless food vending machines. Filmmaker Carlos Martinez interviewed Marcella, one of Chicago's many tamale sellers who work hard to make a living on street corners all over the city. Foodies may go on and on about their wares, but hearing this personal story might change your perspective on your late-night treat.
Marcella is un-permitted, one of many rogue food vendors throughout the city. She claims that she has tried to get a permit to sell her tamales, but that the city doesn't give out permits to tamale sellers and that she is often confronted by the police. Yet another reason to continue the fight to make mobile food licensing and health inspection cheaper and more accesible to all.
| təˈmälē | from Carlos Martinez on Vimeo.