Tamale fans savor a world of flavors

The vendor selling churros, snacks of fried dough tossed with sugar and cinnamon, shouted to attract customers because no one was in line. Tortas were unpopular, mariscos even more so, and some vendors quickly changed their sales strategy to selling drinks, instead of just food, in Saturday afternoon’s warmth.

Standing in front of a woman serving juices out of cooler-sized clear jugs filled with brown tamarind, pink strawberry and yellow pineapple, and cinnamon-sugar-spotted milky horchata was Juan Lopez, who explained why the other booths had little business.

“We just wanted tamales,” said Lopez, 21, who said he eats the steam-cooked cornmeal pockets stuffed with everything from chicken to beef to pineapple at least every Sunday, when a street vendor passes by his Exposition Park neighborhood.

He said he grew up eating his mother’s tamales each year during November and December, when there are plenty of family celebrations.

This weekend, he didn’t have to wait for the street vendor or for Christmas to enjoy one of his favorite foods. They were plentiful during the third annual Los Angeles International Tamale Festival on 7th Street between Alvarado and Park View streets adjacent to MacArthur Park.

“Different countries make different kinds of tamales. I’m about to try every kind,” Lopez said, while eyeing one filled with chicken and a cacao-based mole sauce.

Traditionally, this festival has taken a back seat to Southern California’s premier tamale festival and competition in Indio every December.

But thousands of people showed up Saturday afternoon, and tamale cooks said the Los Angeles festival was gaining on Indio’s popularity.

Elizabeth Moreno, 44, the head cook at a stand called Nini’s Tamales, said she had never seen so many people at the festival before.

She attributed the large crowd to her own moist tamales.

“We have the best ingredients and a secret ingredient,” Moreno said, smiling slyly. “It’s been passed down from generation to generation, and the masa [cornmeal wrapping] is moist.”

About a dozen vendors down from Nini’s stand is Mama’s Hot Tamales, which presented the event. The store is a well-known Los Angeles success tory and model for legalizing and regulating micro-businesses such as tamale street vendors.

“We also have a secret ingredient,” said Rocio Ramirez, who was serving food at a stand outside Mama’s, “and there are so many people here because my tamales are the best in town.”

She described more than 25 flavors. Some were sweet, stuffed with pineapple and other fruits and sweet cheeses.

Others were more traditional, filled with chicken, pork, beef, or green chiles and cheese. But the most popular were the most creative, Ramirez said, especially her sweet and spicy mix of guava and cream cheese, which sold out.

“Un sabor tropical,” Ramirez said, laughing.

Holly Rittenhouse, a jewelry designer from Highland Park, said that she went to the first L.A. tamale festival, which was held downtown, and that hundreds more people are now attending.

“It’s huge. The lines for tamales are about a half-hour long,” Rittenhouse said, while eating two tamales filled with chicken, green chiles and green salsa. “There’s a lot of people who like tamales,” she said.

Some, such as Luis Garcia of Hollywood, said they came because the festival reminded them of Latin American traditions.

Garcia, 25, who brought his 5-year-old son, said he loved to see how tamales differ from one another, with cooks from various countries whipping up the dish their own way.

“Each country has their own traditions,” Garcia said. Some countries, such as El Salvador, traditionally use banana leaves to wrap the tamales. Other countries, such as Mexico, traditionally use corn husks to wrap the dish.

Ramirez, from Mama’s, said there are other subtle differences, not just in the wrappings, but also in the masa and the filling.

On one side of 7th Street were the tamales. On the other side, businesses, political groups and nonprofit agencies touted causes and services.

Volunteers from Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign -- the only one at the festival -- passed out large blue stickers, and salespeople for a beauty product stopped festivalgoers to have them try out their latest invention.

Armando Chavez, 25, a volunteer with the gang intervention group Homies Unidos, came to the festival to help pass out fliers about MacArthur Park neighborhood projects.

“It’s a perfect event to outreach to the community,” Chavez said, noting the various cultures and races represented at the event.

Although Chavez came because he is an activist, he admitted he is also a tamale lover and tries “to distinguish how they’re made, from which country.”

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ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com

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It’s not over yet

The third annual Los Angeles International Tamale Festival continues today adjacent to MacArthur Park in Los Angeles

with music and food. The tamales usually cost about $2.50 to $3 apiece.