A pupusa is a thick griddle cake or flatbread from

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south ...

and

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

, made with cornmeal or rice flour, similar to the Colombian and Venezuelan arepa. In El Salvador, it has been declared the

national dish A national dish is a culinary dish that is strongly associated with a particular country. A dish can be considered a national dish for a variety of reasons: * It is a staple food, made from a selection of locally available foodstuffs that can be ...

and has a specific day to celebrate it. It is usually stuffed with one or more ingredients, which may include cheese (such as ''

quesillo Quesillo (, meaning "little cheese") refers to different Latin American, Spanish, and Filipino foods or dishes depending on the country: Argentina Argentine ''quesillo'' is a notable product of the Calchaquíes and Lerma valleys. It date ...

'' or cheese with ''loroco'' buds), '' chicharrón'', squash, or refried beans. It is typically accompanied by ''

curtido Curtido () is a type of lightly fermented cabbage relish. It is typical in Salvadoran cuisine and that of other Central American countries, and is usually made with cabbage, onions, carrots, oregano, and sometimes lime juice; it resembles sauer ...

'' (a spicy fermented cabbage slaw) and tomato salsa, and is traditionally eaten by hand.

Etymology

There is no definite explanation for the origin of the word. The word for pupusa in one of El Salvador's native languages, Nawat, is . It is possible that the word stems from the verb ''pupusawa'' which means 'to puff up', but there is no known current or historical use of this word within the communities.

Origin

El Salvador and Honduras both claim to be the birthplace of the pupusa. Salvadoran archeologist Roberto Ordóñez attributed the creation of the pupusa to the

Pipil Pipil may refer to: *Nahua people of western El Salvador *Pipil language Nawat (academically Pipil, also known as Nicarao) is a Nahuan language native to Central America. It is the southernmost extant member of the Uto-Aztecan family. It was spo ...

people due to the name meaning 'swollen' in the Pipil language. Honduran etymologists say that since the Pipil language is so close to the

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...

language, the Nahuas of Honduras could have created the dish. However, no direct links have been made to the community. The topic of the pupusa's origin also came up during the negotiation for the CAFTA-DR. Both nations wanted to make the pupusa an exclusive export. After two days, the Honduran delegation ceded the right to El Salvador.

History

Pupusas have been linked to the Pipil tribes who inhabited the territory now known as

. A version of the pre-Columbian pupusa was vegetarian and half-moon shaped. In the late 1940s, pupusas were still not widespread across

and were mostly localized in the central towns. They were documented previously in Guatemala and Honduras. As the Salvadorian population began migrating to other areas in the 1960s, pupusa stands proliferated across the country. In Guatemala during the 1970s, pupusas had a half-moon shape. Pupusas served east of the Lempa River usually have a much larger diameter. In the 1980s, the

Salvadoran civil war The Salvadoran Civil War ( es, guerra civil de El Salvador) was a twelve year period of civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition or ...

forced a Salvadoran migration to other countries, mainly the United States, which made pupusas available elsewhere: Salvadoran immigrants brought the dish to most areas of the US, and they spread to Canada and Australia as well. By the 1990s, they were common in cities such as

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, New York, and San Francisco. Pupusas have been popular in Washington, D.C., since the 1980s and in 2019, November 6 was declared the day of the pupusa. In April 2005, the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly declared pupusas as the national dish of El Salvador and every second Sunday of November would be National Pupusas Day. A fair is typically held on the day in the capital and a few big cities. On 10 November 2007, in celebration of National Pupusa Day, the Secretary of Culture organized a fair in the capital park in which they would make the world's biggest pupusa. The pupusa was in diameter and was made with of masa, of cheese, and 40 pounds of chicharrón. It fed 5,000 people. Five years later, the record was broken again with a pupusa in diameter.

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

lists the largest pupusa at , created in Olocuilta,

, on 8 November 2015. In 2011, ''The Guardian'' named pupusas that year's Best Street Food in New York. Both at home and abroad, pupusas are traditionally served with ''

'' (a pickled cabbage relish, analogous to German ''

Sauerkraut Sauerkraut (; , "sour cabbage") is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ...

'' and Korean ''

kimchi ''Kimchi'' (; ko, 김치, gimchi, ), is a traditional Korean side dish of salted and fermented vegetables, such as napa cabbage and Korean radish. A wide selection of seasonings are used, including '' gochugaru'' (Korean chili powder), ...

'' that comes in mild and spicy varieties) and

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are ...

, and are traditionally eaten by hand. Author Carlos Cordova reports an ancient pre-Hispanic belief that it was sinful to cut tortillas with a knife; they must be cut with fingers as corn was believed to be a divine grain. This might be the reason why generation after generation has adhered to the rule of eating pupusas with the hands.

Regional variations

A variant of the pupusa in El Salvador is the ''pupusa de arroz'', originally hailing from the town of Olocuilta in the east of San Salvador. Rice flour is used to make the dough and they are usually stuffed with chopped pork, cheese, beans, zucchini, and other vegetables. Another regional variation, found in Alegría, is the ''pupusa de banano'', which calls for the addition of plantain bananas to the pupusa.

Latin America

Pupusas are also found in neighboring

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

n countries. Honduran versions use the local ''quesillo'' type of cheese for the filling. In

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, both "Salvadoran pupusas" and "pupusas" are available, the latter being a local version. There, they are a staple of the food stalls at regional carnivals known as fiestas. A similar Mexican dish is called a '' gordita'' (literally, "little fatty"), but gorditas are usually open at one end. In

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, they make '' arepas''. Colombian ''arepas'' are usually eaten without filling, or the filling is placed inside the dough before cooking. Venezuela has its own recipe for ''arepas'', but, unlike Colombian ''arepas'', the dough is cooked first, and then sliced in half and stuffed somewhat like a

hamburger A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, ...

United States

Pupusas made in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

are typically made with Maseca (brand) commercial corn flour-masa mix, instead of fresh ''masa''. Some high-end ''pupuserías'' in the United States use rice flour and wheat flour versions. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, variations include using

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed either f ...

, pepperoni, cheese, and green chile.

Taco Cabana A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of filling ...

, a Tex-Mex chain in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, created a dish called the pupusa that has no relation to the Salvadoran food.Peralta, Eyder (27 July 2006)
"Bona fide pupusas: Classic or clueless? Here's how to tell"
''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'' Dining Guide, p. 4

Gallery

File:Plain pupusas revueltas.jpg, ''Pupusas revueltas'' stuffed with meat, beans and cheese File:Pupusas by Roland Tanglao.jpg, Pupusas and tomato sauce Image:Pupusas,_Salvadoreñas,_para_llevar.jpg, Pupusas for carryout, in El Salvador, are wrapped in plastic and then in paper. (Here the paper is unwrapped to show the pupusas) image:Pupuseria_in_Stgo_Texacuangos_dpto_San_Salvador_El_Salvador.jpg, A pupusería in Santiago Texacuangos, El Salvador. Note the various pupusas advertised on the wall: chicken, jalapeño, chipilín, and avocado file:Typical_Pupuseria_setup_in_El_Salvador.jpg, A pupusería in Olocuilta. file:El_Salvador_Pupuseria_en_la_noche.jpg, An outdoor pupusería in El Salvador at night

Economic impact

In spite of their low market price, pupusas represent an important element in the economy of El Salvador. Rising ingredient costs in 2022 have led to concerns about rising pupusa prices. In addition to whole pupusas, the individual ingredients are also exported; in 2005, for example, US$604,408 worth of loroco, sometimes used as a pupusa filling, was sold to the United States alone. Frozen pupusas can be found in the refrigerated section of many Hispanic and international supermarkets in the

, especially those located in highly concentrated areas of Salvadorans such as Washington, D.C., and

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18t ...

. Pupusa sales play a significant role in the Salvadoran economy. According to the Salvadoran Ministry of Economy between the years of 2001–2003, pupuserias generated $22 million. The export of ingredients such as loroco has also helped boost the economy. As of 2005, 300,000 people made pupusas for a living, with a majority of them being women.