Salvadorans show off their typical national dish

“There is no Salvadoran dish that compares to pupusa!” Alberto Orellana says it without hesitation, who on a Monday night is preparing to have pupusas for dinner in a small restaurant near the Salvadoran capital. The rest of the diners support him as if his words were the result of a national consensus.

Pupusas are for Salvadorans like tacos are for Mexicans: a source of pride, and a taste that cannot be denied even if people are on a diet.

Made from corn, the pupusa is filled with cheese, beans or ground pork rinds and caked together to form a stuffed tortilla that is cooked in aluminum or clay. The ritual consists of making the dough a movement similar to clapping while giving it a circular shape.

Like tacos, this dish has no limits in its variety, as there are chicken, meat, shrimp or chorizo ​​pupusas… and to reduce calories, Salvadoran hands also prepare them with chipilín leaves, papelillo, avocado, carrot or jalapeño.

“I can't even explain why the pupusa is unique, but it is, and I know that many Salvadorans will agree with me. You can have pupusas for breakfast, pupusas for lunch and pupusas for dinner. Celebrate with pupusas or simply eat them on a Sunday. There is no excuse to deny them,” says Orellana.

From the Nahuat “Poxahuac” which means “spongy”, pupusa is not just a dish for Salvadorans. It's part of your identity.

To eat them there are very clear rules: no cutlery is used unless the diner wants to risk a parranda, which in Salvadoran slang means repeatedly hitting a person's head with your hands.

Another rule is that pupusas do not taste the same if they are not made by Salvadoran hands. Even if they are made in another country, if they are made by men or women of Salvadoran origin, you have the belief that you are eating a real pupusa.

“The pupusa is Salvadoran. Salvadoran hands have the measure and everything. They can make it in other countries, but the product is not the same. Here we already know what a pupusa is and what it is not,” adds Isaí Navarro, in charge of serving the Horeb pupuseria in Antiguo Cuscatlán, proudly.

Even Guatemalan restaurants like Guanacos and Chapines, in eastern Guatemala, know this, and in their advertising they highlight the origin of the pupusa: “Pupusas Salvadoreñas” or “Pupusas one hundred percent Salvadoran.”

History of pupusa

El Salvador celebrates National Pupusa Day every second Sunday in November, making the largest pupusa in El Salvador.

In 2023, 33 women were in charge of cooking a pupusa larger than 30 square meters.

There is no consensus on the origin of the pupusa. However, a publication from the University of El Salvador points out that because Mesoamerica has been under the so-called “corn culture”, it is impossible to attribute the origin of the pupusa to a single modern State; However, it is stated that El Salvador is the only country that has adopted the dish as its own and has popularized it, in addition to industrializing, marketing and promoting it.

Traditionally pupusas are made of corn, but their base can be rice, potato or banana.

This dish also has several songs in its honor, such as Las Pupusas, by Salvadoran Jhose Lora who sings: “I like pupusas, with curtido (chopped cabbage) and tomato sauce.” These accompaniments are up to the taste of the diners.

Due to their popularity, pupusas have not remained only in El Salvador. In the United States they have their own festival in cities like New York and Chicago, spreading Salvadoran culinary roots to other parts of the world.

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