Boruca cook and artist Hellen Gómez Rojas calls the small piece of bijagua leaf that goes under the tamal the camiseta, or t-shirt. It’s just a sliver cut off of the larger leaf that is used to wrap the tamal before it gets boiled. In other parts of Costa Rica, the more common yet non-native banana leaf is used, but indigenous communities know that the bijagua (Calathea lutea), is more porous than a banana leaf and doesn’t impregnate the filling with a strong flavor like a banana leaf does. The camiseta acts like a little plate for the tamal dough and filling. It rests on it and helps hold it together while being cooked, then when opened it serves as an easy way to remove it from the larger piece of bijagua without it falling apart.
On my way across the Talamanca mountains, the spine of Costa Rica, driving from the cloud forests of Dota to the lowland tropical forests of the Corcovado Peninsula, I stopped in the village of Boruca to meet with Gómez for just a few hours. We have a friend in common with Pablo Bonilla, who has the restaurant Sikwa in San José. He gave me her WhatsApp number and when I reached out, she mentioned she and her daughter would be making tamales, and that I should pass by.
