Behind the big glasses and signature crown of curls is a Latina food artist, a tamalera, a maker of tamales.
Ellen Riojas Clark is a legend in academia who works culinary magic in the kitchen. She is a UTSA professor emerita of bilingual-bicultural studies who turns corn into a community festival.
During the holidays, the warm aroma of masa rises from her kitchen, and her home transforms into a tamalada, a tamale-making party. It is a gathering of family and friends, each with an apron, to make food, tell stories and share chisme.
Over the years, Clark has taken on a reputation and self-appointed name, one that became the title of a James Beard-nominated documentary, “La Mera Mera Tamalera.” It roughly translates to, “The Very Very Best Tamale-Maker.”
The 12-minute documentary explores the tradition behind a half-century of tamaladas at Clark’s home near Jefferson High School. “La Mera Mera” follows Clark from a molino, where she buys masa, to her kitchen, where tamales are prepared from scratch.
“I think the most essential ingredient,” Clark says in the film, “are friends and family and willing hands.”
James Beard Media Awards
The short film is a production of Masienda, a masa company that connects people to the Mexican kitchen. Producers Hallie Davison and Daniel Klein featured Clark in a previous documentary, “The Taco Chronicles.”
“As a company that brings corn from Mexico to the states, celebrating corn is at the center of who we are and what we do and believe,” said Davison, a Dallas native whose mother lives in San Antonio. “And the holiday season is super fascinating. We wanted to follow a tamale story, specifically in Texas. Ellen sprang to mind. I pitched the idea to her and she was so enthusiastic.”
The James Beard nomination for Best Commercial Media, announced last week, is the third for Davison, who lives in Washington, D.C. She won both times with Klein, who lives in Mexico City and has won three James Beard awards. Can Davison go three-for-three?
“My fingers are crossed,” she said.
The James Beard Media Awards will be announced on June 14 in Chicago. San Antonio has two finalists for James Beard restaurant and chef awards that will be announced on June 16.
Mixtli is a finalist for Outstanding Hospitality. Emil Oliva of Leche de Tigre is a finalist for Best Chef: Texas.
Community and ceremony
Clark’s love for Mexican culture and food runs deep. Producing delicious tamales is fun but not the goal. The purpose of a tamalada is community. It’s bringing people together. What began with her own family expanded over the decades to include students, faculty, artists and friends of friends.
“La Mera Mera” shows Clark in her kitchen, handing out aprons, applying lipstick, making sure everyone is wearing dangly earrings.
Carmen Perez, a friend of Clark’s, explains in the film, “She makes it a ceremony.”
The documentary includes footage of a tamalada from 1995, preserved on a VHS tape. Women are gathered around large bowls in Clark’s kitchen, filling masa with meat. “You can’t do the laborious task of making tamales,” she explains on camera, “without the right people there.”
Clark knows as much about tamales as anyone, their origin, history, rise in popularity and just about everything else. She’s taught the interested how to make tamales at the Witte Museum, Market Square and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center.
She co-authored a book with celebrated author Carmen Tafolla: Tamales, Comadres and the Meaning of Civilization. She also wrote, Pan Dulce: A Celebration of Mexican Sweet and Savory Breads, Pastries, Conchas, Empanadas, and More.
Tamales and pan dulce are integral to Mexican American culture. They help form community and shape identity. In the documentary, Clark opens with: “Everybody says, ‘Why do you call yourself a tamalera? Because that’s what I am.”
As an academic, Clark emphasizes the importance of knowing the “why” and “how” behind a lesson or teaching. The emphasis extends to the kitchen.
“It is very important to learn who I am and why I am and that what I do represents who I am,” Clark said. “The ‘how’ is always in the teaching of things. But also in the documentation of the process. In a tamalada, what’s important is not the product, but the process.”
“La Mera Mera” shows the process with images, detail and dialogue. It is a fine production. But the possibility of a James Beard nomination never entered Clark’s mind.
“I was totally surprised,” she said. “I had no idea it was going to receive so much attention.”
A second surprise followed: Davison invited Clark to attend the James Beard award ceremonies in Chicago, all expenses paid.
“Never in my life would I have ever imagined such a thing,” Clark said.
At the next tamalada, the tamalera will have another story to tell.
