Tamale Emoji

A tamale wrapped in a corn husk or banana leaf, partially open to reveal the masa filling. This emoji was one of the most petitioned food emojis before its approval — multiple Change.org campaigns argued that pizza and hamburger lovers had their emojis while tamale lovers didn't.

Tamales are one of the oldest prepared foods in the Americas, dating back 8,000 to 10,000 years in Mesoamerica. The Aztec, Maya, Olmec, and Toltec civilizations all made them. Archaeologists have found fossilized corn husks near the pyramids of Teotihuacan. The word comes from Nahuatl "tamalli."

🫔 is used for Mexican and Latin American food content, Christmas and holiday traditions (tamale season runs December through early January), cultural pride, and the occasional "hot tamale" compliment. It was celebrated by Latino media alongside 🪅 as a milestone for Hispanic representation in emoji.

🫔 spikes hard in December. Tamale season runs from the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12) through Las Posadas (December 16-24), Nochebuena (Christmas Eve), and ends around Three Kings Day (January 6). During this stretch, an estimated 500 million tamales are made across the US and Mexico. Street vendors make up to half their yearly income in December alone.

Outside of tamale season, 🫔 shows up in food photography, recipe content, and cultural pride posts. It's popular on Mexican food Instagram, Chicano food TikTok, and in family cooking content. The tamalada (tamale-making party) is a recurring content format: multi-generational families spreading masa, filling husks, and telling stories together.

There's also the "hot tamale" slang angle. The phrase has been US slang since 1897 for an attractive person, and 🫔 occasionally gets used in that flirtatious context.

The Unicode proposal for 🫔 (L2/19-154) was submitted by Chasen Le Hara of Emojination in 2019. The proposal argued that tamales had "no representation despite their popularity, history dating back to Mesoamerica, and significance in many cultures." It noted that the tamale would fill a gap for a food wrapped in leaves, a concept with parallels across cultures.

The advocacy went beyond a single proposal. Multiple Change.org petitions pushed for the emoji, and Latino media outlets covered the campaign extensively. When 🫔 was approved in Unicode 13.0 (March 2020), mitu celebrated it alongside 🪅 as a landmark for Latinx cultural representation in digital communication.

But tamales themselves predate any modern campaign by millennia. Archaeological evidence suggests tamales date back 8,000 to 10,000 years in Mesoamerica. The Aztec and Maya civilizations used them as portable food for armies, hunting trips, and long-distance travel. They were also considered sacred, the food of the gods. The form of the tamale is thought to predate the tortilla, since it doesn't require a griddle.

1. -8000Earliest estimated origin of tamales in Mesoamerica, predating tortillas↗
2. 100Tamales depicted in the Mural of San Bartolo, Petén, Guatemala
3. 1897"Hot tamale" enters US slang as a term for an attractive person↗
4. 2019Chasen Le Hara submits Unicode proposal L2/19-154 for TAMALE emoji via Emojination↗
5. 2020Approved in Unicode 13.0 and Emoji 13.0 (March 2020)↗
6. 2020Apple ships 🫔 in iOS 14.2 (November 2020)

Tamales vary wildly across Latin America. The concept is the same (masa + filling + wrapper), but every country has its own version.

In Mexico, tamales come in hundreds of regional varieties. Tamales oaxaqueños are wrapped in banana leaves and filled with chicken mole. In the Yucatán, mucbipollos are enormous tamales baked underground for Día de los Muertos. Northern Mexican tamales tend to be simpler with red chile pork. The tamalada tradition (a tamale-making party where extended family gathers) is strongest in December.

In Venezuela, the hallaca is the local version: corn dough stuffed with a complex stew of beef, pork, or chicken with raisins, capers, and olives, wrapped in plantain leaves. The orange-red tinted masa (from annatto seeds) sets hallacas apart visually.

In Guatemala, tamales colorados use tomato-based recado sauce and are wrapped in banana leaves. Paches are potato-based tamales unique to the Guatemalan highlands.

In the Andes (Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru), humitas use fresh corn rather than dried masa, wrapped in fresh corn husks, giving them a sweeter, lighter flavor.

In the US Southwest and Texas, tamales are a Christmas institution. Mexican-American families have made them for generations, blending Mexican tradition with American holiday culture. The Library of Congress has documented the tamalada as a cultural practice worth preserving.

• •Tamales are thought to predate tortillas because they don't require a griddle. You just wrap masa in leaves and steam. Archaeological evidence places them at 8,000-10,000 years old.
• •An estimated 500 million tamales are made during the Christmas season in the US and Mexico. Some street vendors earn half their annual income in December alone.
• •The world's longest tamale measured 50.05 meters and used 350 kg of corn dough, 100 kg of pork, and 800 kg of lard.
• •"Hot tamale" has been US slang for an attractive person since 1897. Hot Tamales cinnamon candy has been around since 1950.
• •The Indio International Tamale Festival in California drew over 154,000 people at its peak, making it the world's largest tamale-focused event.
• •The Aztec word for tortilla was "tlaxcalli," but their word for tamale was "tamalli." English "tamale" is a back-formation from the Spanish plural "tamales."

• •"Hot tamale" slang (since 1897) — The phrase "hot tamale" has been US slang since 1897 for an attractive or sexy person. Hot Tamales are also a popular cinnamon candy made by Just Born (since 1950).
• •Change.org petitions — Multiple petitions pushed for a tamale emoji, arguing that pizza and hamburger lovers had emoji representation while tamale lovers didn't. The campaign was framed as a matter of Latino cultural representation in digital communication.
• •The Tamalada as cultural practice — The Smithsonian's Folklife Magazine and the Library of Congress have both documented the tamalada as a cultural practice worth preserving. It's a multi-generational gathering centered on making tamales together.
• •Indio International Tamale Festival — The world's largest tamale festival takes place in Indio, California, with attendance of over 154,000 people at its peak.
• •World's longest tamale — Mexico holds the Guinness record for the longest tamale at 50.05 meters, using 350 kg of corn dough and 100 kg of pork.

• •U+1FAD4U+1FAD4. Part of Unicode 13.0 (2020), Emoji 13.0. No variation selector needed.
• •Shortcode: :tamale::tamale: on Slack and Discord.
• •The Unicode name is TAMALE (English back-formation), not TAMAL (Spanish singular). This was a deliberate choice for the English-dominant emoji naming convention.

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