These ladies have an amazing ethos and are putting their money where their idealistic, hopeful mouths are. They donate twenty percent of proceeds from sales to fund a nonprofit program established to help refugees and their children [http://www.fugeesfamily.org/index.htm] and their staff is comprised of program graduates and their parents. Completely amazing and inspiring, like I can't stop saying.
These are tamales wrapped in warm fuzzies.
That said - and the purpose of a food review - is to comment on what's past the warm fuzzies and inside the corn husks. And on that front, I thought they missed the mark. The shredded chicken tamal I experienced was dry, incredibly bland, and doused in overreaching spicy sauce, which did nothing to redeem its mediocrity. My parents, both of whom raised me on a a hard line There Are Children Starving in Africa- Finish Your Peas approach, and believe it immoral to throw out food, could barely finish theirs.
Our group had 4 chicken tamales and 1 vegetarian and no one walked away satisfied. We are of adventurous palates and spiciness isn't really an issue for us. It was a matter of not having much flavor to begin with and then masking it with heat. I found the spice to be a heavy handed afterthought , instead of intrinsic to a robust flavor profile. It was like sprinkling cayenne on sliced white bread. Yeah, it's hot, but it's not really yummy.
It seems lots of other folks like their offerings, though, and that does some to alleviate the guilt I feel over not being able to finish the tamal and delivering a less than stellar review.
The remaining guilt will likely lead me to try out the tacos. read more
