Wrapped in Tradition: Tamale Making in Sabine Parish

The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame & Northwest Louisiana History Museum will present "Wrapped in Tradition: Tamale Making in Sabine Parish" with Rhonda Pemedies Gauthier on Saturday, November 14, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Through family stories, discussion, and tasting, Gauthier will explore the Indigenous and Spanish influences that have shaped this distinctive regional food tradition. Visitors will have an opportunity to sample tamales she has prepared while learning about the knowledge and techniques passed down through generations. 

An enrolled member of the Choctaw-Apache Tribe, Gauthier learned to prepare traditional foods from her mother, grandmothers, and fahter. She will discuss how interconnected families and communities in Sabine Parish maintain their own recipes and techniques, giving each family's tamales a distinctive flavor. The program will also include footage from her documentary, From Maize to Masa, which follows Gauthier and her mother making tamales, with commentary about the process annd the family traditions it preserves.