Remembering the Great Tamale Incident of 1976 that may have cost Gerald Ford the presidency

Originally published at: Remembering the Great Tamale Incident of 1976 that may have cost Gerald Ford the presidency | Boing Boing

5 Likes

6 Likes

And yet in Australia this turd was elected despite eating a raw onion.

7 Likes

Pretty sure the ultimate Presidential food gaffe is Zach Taylor dying from cholera from the unpasteurized milk he drank …

Also this delightful rant

7 Likes

Presidential candidates should also stay away from corn dogs.

corndog02

7 Likes

Clinton likes hot sauce? Such unfitness for the presidency. /S

9 Likes

Oops, I seem to have dropped a link.

11 Likes

“Gaffe”

image

18 Likes

I don’t think I have ever had a Tamale. Can some one fill me in so I don’t look like an idiot?

I do remember going to my first Mongolian Barbecue and I said - “Uh - this doesn’t look cooked guys.” And the others were like, “You take it to that guy and he cooks it.”

OOhhhhhhh.

6 Likes

I’m gonna assume you’re not being sarcastic. Tamales (singular form: tamal) are basically dumplings made of a type of corn flour (masa) dough, with some kind of filling inside. They’re steamed inside dried corn husks, and typically served inside the husks to prevent them from falling apart. You’re supposed to peel off the husk before digging in. I’m sure Ford realized his gaffe immediately, since the husk has a fibrous, papery texture, and would have immediately tipped him off as to its inedibility.

Edit: and they’re delicious, which I thought would be self-evident. Dang, now I want tamales.

18 Likes

You left out the most important detail: They’re delicious!

8 Likes

Huckabee is full of revisionist history crap. Ford lost because the economy was in the crapper, he’d pardoned Nixon, he was a gaffe machine generally, and people saw Carter as an antidote to years of Republican corruption. Still, the tamale thing … classic Jerry Ford!

7 Likes

Far more information than you need:

6 Likes

I wasn’t. I am 95% sure when I first heard of them I though you eat it like a tortilla wrapper. But now I know. Eventually I can go out to eat again and try them. Maybe find a food truck.

I was in Mexico once and went to a residential area and had this odd corn concoction. The best way to describe it was corn and spices in mayo - but that is a wrong description of what it was - it is just the closest thing I could come up with.

4 Likes

Elote. It’s just corn nibs slathered in whatever stuff you want. Mayo, shredded cheese, salsa, you name it.

7 Likes

Elotes?

5 Likes

What kind of freak doesn’t carry around chilli of some kind?

9 Likes

Me. I have horrible acid reflux.

7 Likes

I think we should have an election debate format based on Hot Ones - that youtube show where the interviewer and interviewee eat progressively spicier buffalo wings (or vegan equivalents thereof).

In capsaicin veritas

6 Likes