Tamales in Yucatán: Reflections on 52 years of Piib gastronomy

: "The first time I made tamales in the Yucatan of Mexico was in a village close to Tixcacal Guardia, Quintana Roo in 1972, some 52 years ago as I write this essay. It was in the fall and extended families were celebrating the harvest of milpas with something called "jaanali kol" (the feast of the milpa). We dug a pit, about four by eight feet oblong, lined it with stones, and built a fire. We were all men around the fire, and women were nearby in a house making chicken stew and other foods." So begins this personal reflection of the anthropologist Allan Burns, recalling his first deep experience in Yucatecan culinary practictices and food culture, continuing over the decades into the present.