Viva Villa Helps Children Learn Tradition of Making Tamales

Ever wanted to know how to make tamales? Well, early Tuesday morning, dozens of kids gave our John Salazar a tasty lesson in the art of making an ancient cultural food.

SAN ANTONIO -- A group of San Antonio children are taking a hands-on approach to the great Mexican tradition of making tamales.

Carino Cortez with Viva Villa in Historic Market Square, thought it would be a great idea to teach the children how to make tamales from scratch.

"I really like the tradition of making tamales. It gets people together. It's a lot of fun. It's something that I want kids to have this food memory of, of when they made the tamales," said Cortez.

The pre-Columbian dish dates back at least 5,000 years.

The children were able to sample chicken and pork tamales, and take their corn-based delicacies home, so that their parents could help the chefs-in-training finish the process by steaming the tamales to perfection.