The Texas Tamale Series Heats Up!

Mission firefighter Adrian Villarreal can put out a fire—and he proved he can tolerate some spicy tamales! By eating 18 tamales in 12 minutes, Villarreal earned the tamale trophy as the winner of the first stop in First Choice Power’s Texas Tamale Series. Rene Alaniz won second place with an impressive 16-tamale finish. This good eating not only won both men bragging rights, but also helped raise $3,000 in donations for the Mission Food Pantry as part of our Food First™ program to fight hunger here in Texas.

First Choice Power’s first ever Texas Tamale Series was born when tamale trash-talking started up between First Choice Power’s three local offices—Lewisville, Mission and Texas City. We challenged these local tamale toreadors to put their money (and their stomachs) where their mouths are and to raise money for a good cause at the same time.

In each city, eaters include members of the fire and police departments, local celebrities and basically anyone else who thinks they can eat a bunch of tamales. The entry fee is $25 per eater, and all the money raised will be donated to our partner food banks. Eaters also collect per-tamale sponsorships from friends and family to raise additional funds.

Villarreal and Alaniz will join winners from the other local contests in Lewisville later this summer to do a final face-off. The money raised from this final event will be donated to the food bank of the winner’s choice, and the winner will earn a seat representing First Choice Power at the World Tamale Eating Championship in Lewisville this September. Stay tuned for more updates!