Wrapped up and ready to go

George Medinilla knew he wanted to celebrate his heritage with a food festival. He just wasn’t sure what food to pick.

So before settling on the centerpiece of what would become this weekend’s first Los Angeles International Tamale Festival, the event co-founder had considered the burrito, the taco, the champurrado (a hot chocolate-porridge drink) and salsa.

“Being Mexican, we wanted to produce a festival that’s part of our culture, and we wanted to continue the tradition of our foods,” said Medinilla, who owns the community website Eastlosangles.net. “Tamales is something we love.”

The three-day festival, which has plans to be an annual event, is a celebration of all things tamale, with classes, contests and dozens of vendors offering variations from Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Panama, Puerto Rico and other Latin countries.

On the eating end of things, visitors can sample fare not only from the L.A. area but also the wares of tamale makers traveling from as far away as San Jose and Phoenix. On Sunday, a tamale-eating contest will give attendees seven minutes to down all the stuffed masa they can manage.

In the downtime it takes for digestion, visitors can also take in some of the 60-plus musical and comedy performances, or bring their kids to the petting zoo, or, in keeping with the event’s theme, learn how to make tamales. And if they feel confident enough in their skills, they can buy ingredients to take home.

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-- Susan Carpenter

First Los Angeles International Tamale Festival, 1400 N. Spring St., L.A. 3 to 10 p.m. Friday, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Free. (323) 227-9321, www.eastlosangeles.net/tamalefestival