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ysabetwordsmithColorado’s ‘Tamales Act’ Restores Citizens’ Freedom to Buy and Sell Homecooked Food
Colorado’s government has restored the freedom of its people to prepare and sell homecooked food to one another.
Provided they take a food safety course, the “Tamale Act” is expected to be a boost to the informal economy by unlocking the commercial power of mama’s and grandma’s home-cooking.
This is a huge improvement for everyone.
House Majority Leader Monica Dura said exactly that—the Tamale Act gives people a chance to turn family recipes and cooking skills into a business opportunity.
“In the times that we are in, people can take that talent and that gift they have of these special foods that they make around their family table and share them.”
This touches on some ways that restrictions harm everyone:
* They undercut the economy. They suppress people's ability to support themselves and block small business development. The more barriers between a person and work, the fewer people are able to work and the more burden on society to support nonworking individuals. There need to be plenty of natural opportunities for labor that are cheap or free and easy to start, so that everyone who wants to work can do so. Nobody should have to beg for a job from someone else.
* They suppress ethnic identity and foods by stifling transmission. Food is culture. It helps people find each other. Food is diplomacy. It encourages tolerance. Many regulations unfairly impact ethnic groups more than others, or worse, deliberately target them while hiding behind bureaucracy. My county health board is viciously racist in this regard.
* Food is bonding. Anything that undermines people's ability to share food will also necessarily undermine their ability to connect with each other. That is dangerous.
Previously, Colorado legislation prohibited the cooking and sale of any food that required temperature control, including meat and dairy products. Room temperature safe foods like coffee beans or pickles were allowed to be sold.
Now let's throw in a heap of hypocrisy. When people practice food sovereignty, the government often throws a shitfit and screams that it's unsafe. You know what's actually unsafe? The Standard American Diet, brought to you by corporations legally making food that kills people. When citizens complain that something is unsafe, the government tells them to shut up. So clearly, the government doesn't give a flying fuck about safety; it only cares about money and power.
Consumers, said Dura, have all the agency and awareness needed to decide for themselves whether they want to buy informally cooked food.
This raises the issue of infantilization. Restrictions communicate that people are too stupid to make good decisions. If you see food at a bake sale, you know it was obviously not made in a factory. You might consider this a risk factor if you are keenly concerned about food handling. You might consider this a safety factor since it obviously cannot contain the kinds of additives or processes used only in factories. That needs to stay your decision.
Here in Illinois, there's still a moderate amount of food freedom, but more and more I see very rude signs about how dangerous homemade food is. I resent that. Homemade food is almost always MUCH safer than factory food. >_< It's a deliberate strike against small business and body autonomy.
Fight back. Buy food from small businesses and bake sales whenever you can.
Colorado’s government has restored the freedom of its people to prepare and sell homecooked food to one another.
Provided they take a food safety course, the “Tamale Act” is expected to be a boost to the informal economy by unlocking the commercial power of mama’s and grandma’s home-cooking.
This is a huge improvement for everyone.
House Majority Leader Monica Dura said exactly that—the Tamale Act gives people a chance to turn family recipes and cooking skills into a business opportunity.
“In the times that we are in, people can take that talent and that gift they have of these special foods that they make around their family table and share them.”
This touches on some ways that restrictions harm everyone:
* They undercut the economy. They suppress people's ability to support themselves and block small business development. The more barriers between a person and work, the fewer people are able to work and the more burden on society to support nonworking individuals. There need to be plenty of natural opportunities for labor that are cheap or free and easy to start, so that everyone who wants to work can do so. Nobody should have to beg for a job from someone else.
* They suppress ethnic identity and foods by stifling transmission. Food is culture. It helps people find each other. Food is diplomacy. It encourages tolerance. Many regulations unfairly impact ethnic groups more than others, or worse, deliberately target them while hiding behind bureaucracy. My county health board is viciously racist in this regard.
* Food is bonding. Anything that undermines people's ability to share food will also necessarily undermine their ability to connect with each other. That is dangerous.
Previously, Colorado legislation prohibited the cooking and sale of any food that required temperature control, including meat and dairy products. Room temperature safe foods like coffee beans or pickles were allowed to be sold.
Now let's throw in a heap of hypocrisy. When people practice food sovereignty, the government often throws a shitfit and screams that it's unsafe. You know what's actually unsafe? The Standard American Diet, brought to you by corporations legally making food that kills people. When citizens complain that something is unsafe, the government tells them to shut up. So clearly, the government doesn't give a flying fuck about safety; it only cares about money and power.
Consumers, said Dura, have all the agency and awareness needed to decide for themselves whether they want to buy informally cooked food.
This raises the issue of infantilization. Restrictions communicate that people are too stupid to make good decisions. If you see food at a bake sale, you know it was obviously not made in a factory. You might consider this a risk factor if you are keenly concerned about food handling. You might consider this a safety factor since it obviously cannot contain the kinds of additives or processes used only in factories. That needs to stay your decision.
Here in Illinois, there's still a moderate amount of food freedom, but more and more I see very rude signs about how dangerous homemade food is. I resent that. Homemade food is almost always MUCH safer than factory food. >_< It's a deliberate strike against small business and body autonomy.
Fight back. Buy food from small businesses and bake sales whenever you can.
Ironic
Date: 2026-06-17 07:58 pm (UTC)The REASON why there are so many people, especially abuelas and young mothers selling tamales... Mexico does not have a social safety net. No WIC, no SNAP, no EBT programs.
So the abuelas sell tamales or their families starve.
It's a very real problem in the 20% inflation since 2020,too. Those numbers are only getting WORSE.
Only a few times did someone from the neighborhood come walking around holding a utility bill with a small number of sealed grocery goods in their basket, trying to sell enough to pay said bill, in an area where a hefty chunk of the neighbors had two or more languages on the tips of their tongues, but this was clearly not understanding that the programs I mentioned existed. That's pre-Covid, but the events were unforgettable.
So now, someone in the government has acknowledged the /growing/ practice of side businesses. Someone I'm passing acquaintances with this year spends one weekend a month selling "plates" after church, and makes enough to cover her mortgage, but she also described the sale day as the easiest, after two days of 16-18 hours of work, since she usually sold out in less than four hours.
This person HAS a full time job. It wasn't making ends meet.
The gaps between the people still following the model that my generation was raised to aspire to, and long for, is growing by the MINUTE.
Normally, I'd be arguing from the viewpoint of cultural expression, independence, personal choice, and so on, but the hard, basic reality is that people WERE running food-based side businesses whether they were legal in their area or not. Requiring a food safety course is a small hurdle, possibly an expensive one, I don't know, but it at least recognizes that this is a matter of SURVIVAL in more ways than the Republican-leaning government may be willing to admit aloud. Ever.
Re: Ironic
Date: 2026-06-17 09:28 pm (UTC)So the abuelas sell tamales or their families starve.<<
That's true. We had a tamale lady at the DeBuhr's farmer's market last summer.
>>It's a very real problem in the 20% inflation since 2020,too. Those numbers are only getting WORSE.<<
I think inflation is calculated in a way that disguises the real impact on people. The government counts everything, or at least a large swath of things, and averages the rate of inflation. This hides the fact that some things are skyrocketing much faster than others.
In order to gauge the real impact, you need to know the rate of inflation for a much smaller set of categories:
* Survival needs such as food, water, shelter, clothing, health care, etc.
* Social requirements like education or internet service that are necessary to participate in society and meet needs.
* Social expectations and instrumental needs necessary for obtaining other needs such as a car or other transportation.
That is, all the things essential to life in your society. In America, all of these things are rising much faster than random other stuff that isn't nearly as important, and some -- like housing and health care -- are skyrocketing out of reach of most people. To understand the impact of inflation on people, you need to know what their basic expenses are doing. Look up the individual rates of inflation for key categories in order to determine this. It shows that society is broken in ways that are becoming everyone's problem.
>> So now, someone in the government has acknowledged the /growing/ practice of side businesses. <<
It's better than nothing, but not near enough.
However, there are a lot of local options -- city and county health boards, someone managing the housing stock and business locations, the city council approving or denying large construction projects, etc. Honestly one of my top recommendations would be a small business incubator or park where people could rent small slots cheaply and then move up if they outgrow it. One mall I've seen had the brilliant idea of turning a large empty anchor slot into a community flea market where anyone could rent space to sell crafts, antiques, etc. The one I remember most was the booth of upcycled metal fish and other oddities made from scrap metal.
>>This person HAS a full time job. It wasn't making ends meet.<<
Yeah, it takes 2-5 jobs to support a household now. That's a problem. "8 Hours for Work, 8 Hours for Rest, 8 Hours for What We Will" is a healthy work-life balance. We need that in order for people to have time to create society and families, not just goods and services. That means one job needs to pay enough to live on in roughly a 40-hour week. Or else, we find some other way to support people than employment, which is a fairly recent invention.
>> Normally, I'd be arguing from the viewpoint of cultural expression, independence, personal choice, and so on, but the hard, basic reality is that people WERE running food-based side businesses whether they were legal in their area or not. <<
That's true. Very often, these are quietly run among friends and neighbors -- especially the ones making food for latchkey children or elders.
>> Requiring a food safety course is a small hurdle, possibly an expensive one, I don't know, <<
Ideally, it should be free and open to everyone; and there should be a waiver for anyone who's already taken Home Economics or a college class covering the same material. Better yet just offer a free test to see who even needs to take a class; that would save time and money for everyone. Put the bottom rungs on the ladder.
>> but it at least recognizes that this is a matter of SURVIVAL in more ways than the Republican-leaning government may be willing to admit aloud. Ever. <<
True.
Re: Ironic
Date: 2026-06-17 10:39 pm (UTC)Yet in the US, we do the same things. We game the system looking for RICH PEOPLE housing, deliberately delaying and outright denying low-income, affordable housing. The rules for ADUs in some areas are so prohibitive that it can cost THREE TIMES what it does to build a 1500 ft2 house to build a 500 ft2 ADU.
Our lies about a "robust" housing market are killing people, too, but it's more subtle and easier to ignore than a building collapse due to improperly mixed (cheap) concrete.