Tamale Spaceship

“When I was a kid this is what I used to make with my grandmother. She would always make two batches of tamales: one batch [to] sell and one batch for family. For family there would be a lot more meat, a lot more flavor, a lot more lard. There would be nothing from a can. All the salsa and mole were made from scratch.

When I started this business we had to choose between the tamales for selling and the tamales for family. We could have made regular tamales. But we give customers what we serve to our family …

This is the first food truck in Chicago. We have been here for six years. But I think the reason why more than half of the trucks fail every year is the rules from the city. They give a lot of permits to the trucks but only have a few places where we can sell, so everybody ends up being on top of each other.

Last week I had three inspections from the city. Three inspections in one week. It wasn’t a problem but you almost feel like a criminal. You feel like you are doing something wrong.”

Pepe Balanzar
Tamale Spaceship