The tradition of paying for tamales continues, so this season, more workers are hired to meet the demand
From 500 to two thousand tamales were the largest orders received by tamaleros on Arteaga Street, between Guerrero and Allende, who were forced, as they do every year, to hire more personnel to meet the demand for tamales to meet the long-awaited Candlemas Day.
Laura Campos Paulín, a worker at Tamales La Cruz, commented that on January 17, they closed the orders for pickup between February 1 and 3, with green chicken or pork and red cheese being the traditional favorites, or Oaxacan mole and green sauce with chicken.
Campos Paulín commented that the largest order of the 45 they received this year was for two thousand pieces of traditional tamales, so family members were called to support the family business and meet the demand for products that were requested.
“Yes, more people are summoned. This business is family-owned, so those who can come from the family are called to help since the tamalero’s trade is somewhat easy, but complicated. It is a job that requires experience, so that the tamales you make, if you wrap 100 tamales, you can have 100 tamales of final product, and there is no large loss that prevents you from receiving orders,” he said.
He explained that orders begin to be made massively at least 15 days in advance and acknowledged that the costs of inputs have risen, which has forced the final product to also have an increase in its cost.
“The costs, unfortunately, with this issue of inflation, we have not been able to sustain them. I believe that since mid-September, everything has been on the rise, the weather affects a lot in the state of Querétaro with respect to the leaf that is very expensive, and the drought raises the costs of meat and lard,” he said.
In the case of Tamales and Atoles Arteaga, the atoles of champurrado, guava, and rice pudding are the favorites, as well as the green tamale with meat. Roberto Armadillo Contreras, owner of the business, said that this time of year, twice as many workers are hired to fulfill all orders.
Although in previous years they received orders of up to five thousand pieces from a company, this year the highest was 500 pesos, and he agreed that the cost of the product is maintained due to the variety of prices in leaves, lard and meat.
“We already know that February 2 is the date. For orders, they always have to be made at least five days in advance; it implies that more people are hired, it implies working longer,” he said.
In any of the businesses, the traditional tamale costs 29 pesos, and the Oaxacan one costs 36 pesos.
Source: Diario De Queretaro
