For many California families, tamales are as much a part of Christmas as candy canes. The traditional Meso-American dish remains popular on winter holidays until New Year's Eve. Tamales, a ...

chuchitos (Guatemalan tamales), and dobladas (a pastry similar to a chicken empanada), along with signature drinks like arroz con leche and atol. ”Our food is very colorful,” Alvarado says.

About 1,500 B.C., cooks in coastal Guatemala figured out that cooking ... is the basis for corn tortillas, chips, tamales and other specialty corn foods. Whole corn that has been nixtamalized ...