When I went to Mexico, I tried one of those tamales from a little stand on the side of the road....?

That is a variation of a tamale. I live in San Jose, California. There's a taqueria near me that occasionally has tamales. They have potato, carrots, onion and jalapeno in them along with the meat. You're right. Very tasty.

Tamales , can come in all variety of ingredients in them . I am Hispanic , and we make tamales with chicken , pork , beans, peppers etc. That's the traditional ingredient of it . But in most cases alot of restaurants and small chain stands do so many stuff in order to sell the item that is Spanish tasting , Oh' cant complain , alot of them have great ideas that do sell. And props to all of them for thinking the dish up or even coming up with the idea. What makes it so good is the ingredient and the person that prepares it .

Have a good day.

You can have tamales filled with ANYTHING!

The mexican restaurant I work for changes their variety almost everyday.

Some we've done:

chick pea & goat cheese

steak, jalapeño, cilantro, onion & tomato

apricot & queso fresco

chicken & poblano

black truffle & manchego

yeah, resturants stuff their tamales with veggies and all that good stuff!

speaking of them, i want one right now!:)

aye caramba!