The Small, but Hearty Pupusa
At first glance, a pupusa may look like just a thick tortilla, but take a bite and you’ll get to experience the tasty treasures within. First, let’s talk a little history. Pupusas are a creation of the Pipil tribes from El Salvador.
In fact, the cooking tools used to make them were discovered after an excavation of the site of a two thousand year old native village. This particular village was buried in volcanic ash after an eruption, which meant that all household items and even food were preserved.
For the most part, pupusas stayed in El Salvador and primarily in the rural countryside, but it wasn’t until the 1950s and 1960s that Salvadorans started moving to the cities and taking the pupusa with them. Pupusas stands started to proliferate across the country and even in the neighboring areas of Honduras and Guatemala, sometimes with variations in shape, size or filling.
During the 1980s Salvadoran Civil War, Salvadorans started migrating up north and quickly established communities in major US and Canadian cities. From being just El Salvador’s national food, the pupusa is now well-known part of the the North American food landscape.
So enough history, right? Let’s talk now about what a pupusa is. Simply, a pupusa is a thick hand-made corn tortilla that is stuffed with one or more ingredients usually placed one on top of the other like cheese, fried pork meat, squash blossoms, refried beans, loroco (a vine flower) and more.
There’s also the Pupusas Revueltas where the ingredients are mixed together and for something completely different, there are the Pupusas de Arroz where the tortillas are made of rice flour instead of corn masa. Pupusas are traditionally served with a pickled cabbage relish and eaten by hand. This El Salvoran food isn’t very big, but a couple pupusas can be quite a hearty meal and even better, they’re fairly inexpensive. Interested in trying this tasty dish? Than check out some restaurants listed below.
Atlacatl Restaurant
301 N Berendo St
Los Angeles, CA 90004
(323) 663-1404
Gloria’s Restaurant
5100 Belt Line Rd
Ste 852
Dallas, TX 75254
(972) 387-8847
Guanaco’s Tacos Pupuseria
4106 Brooklyn Ave NE
Ste 102A
Seattle, WA 98105
(206) 547-2369
La Pupusa Factory
1947 W Flagler Street
Miami, FL 33135
(305) 646-9922
Pupuseria El Salvador
3557 E. 106th St.
Chicago, IL 60617
(773) 374-0490
