Mario, the head chef at Tzango, is originally from Mexico. He grew up in the area outside of Mexico City, where they grow the agave for tequila.

Q: Let’s talk about your holiday cultural traditions! Part of the festivities include food and one of the main dishes are tamales, right?

A: Correct. We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. On Christmas is when we do the turkey, so [we serve] the turkey along with the tamales.

Tamales are one of the things people like to show off because it is an item that’s very tasty. It’s a small bundle, but it could also feed a lot of people.

People try to make them as special as they can so everybody can show their special recipe that was passed on from their parents and great-grandparents.

In this instance, we’re going to use shredded chicken, banana leaves and then precooked masa (corn dough) with mole.

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