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Pupusa

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This article is about the culinary dish. For the mountain peak, see Păpușa.

Pupusa
Several pupusas on a plate
Several prepared pupusas
Place of originEl Salvador, Honduras[1][2]
Serving temperatureHot
Main ingredientsCorn or rice flour
Fillings e.g. meat, cheese, beans, vegetables
Food energy
(per serving)
350 calories (average)

A pupusa is a thick griddle cake or flatbread from El Salvador and Honduras[1][2] made with cornmeal or rice flour. In El Salvador, the pupusa is the national dish[3] and has a specific day to celebrate it. Pupusas are usually stuffed with one or more ingredients including cheese, beans, chicharrón, or squash, among others. It is typically accompanied by curtido (a spicy fermented cabbage slaw) and tomato sauce and is traditionally eaten by hand.

Etymology

The exact origin of the term pupusa is unknown. The Dictionary of Americanisms [es], published by the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, states that pupusa derives from the Nawat word puxahua meaning "fluffy" or "fluffy thing".[4]: 1787  In Lidia Pérez de Novoa's book Interlude and Other Verses, she believed that pupusa derives from the Nawat word pupusawa meaning "to puff up".[5]: 71  Ricardo Ernesto Roque, a professor at the Central American University in San Salvador, supported this etymology.[1]

Salvadoran linguist Jorge Lemus argued that the word pupusa does not have Nawat roots, stating that the Pipil people referred to pupusas as kukumuzin. In Santiago Barberena's [es] book Quicheísmos: Contribution to the Study of American Folklore..., he believed that the word pupusa originated from a combination of the K'iche' words pop (meaning "sphere") and utz (meaning "good thing"), forming the word poputz meaning "good sphere"; however, the term poputz does not appear in any K'iche' language dictionaries.[6]: 1–5 

Origin

El Salvador and Honduras both claim to be the origin of the pupusa. Roque attributed the pupusa's origin to the Pipil people as he believed the term derived from the Nawat word pupusawa, which would make El Salvador the pupusa's origin. Héctor Miguel Leiva Carías, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Honduras, remarked that attributing the dish's origin to El Salvador based on etymology is not correct as Nawat was also spoken in Honduras.[1] Salvadoran anthropologist Ramón Rivas does not attribute the pupusa to any country in particular except that it originated in Mesoamerica in general.[7]

The pupusa's origin was discussed during negotiations for the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA–DR) in 2003.[1] El Salvador wanted to patent the pupusa as an exclusive export. Honduran negotiator Melvin Redondo ceded the right to El Salvador, stating that Honduras did not intend to challenge El Salvador on the matter.[8] In 2018, the World Trade Organization listed El Salvador as the origin of the pupusa.[3]

History

A woman with pupusas in Apopa in 1990

The earliest ancestral dish of the pupusa originates in the Pre-Columbian era in modern-day El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala as a thick corn tortilla.[1] Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún wrote in 1570 that Indigenous Americans also prepared a dish consisting of a mixture of dough, beans, and meat in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.[7][9] Anthropologist Jorge Ávalos states that Sahagún's attestation may not refer to pupusas, however, and could instead refer to early iterations of tamales or gorditas.[10]

The earliest mention of modern pupusas was made by Guatemalan poet José Batres Montúfar in 1837. In a letter to his family, he described encountering a dish similar to pupusas in Nicaragua known as rellenas. In the letter, he remarked their similarity to pupusas which he attributes as being from San Salvador.[10][11] At this time, pupusas were most commonly eaten by the poor[11] and prepared in rural areas.[12] In the late 1930s, corn became scarce and some Salvadorans replaced the corn flour to make pupusas with rice flour. This method of creating pupusas, known as pupusas de arroz, began in Olocuilta.[3] Pupusas de arroz further spread across El Salvador during the Salvadoran Civil War due to further scarcity.[7] The popularity of pupusas grew in the United States as refugees began preparing the dish in the country.[11]

Preparation

Pupusas being cooked on a comal.

A pupusa is a handmade maize or rice tortilla stuffed with ingredients. Traditional stuffings can include cheese, refried beans, squash, loroco, and chicharrón.[5][12] More localized variants can also be stuffed with shrimp, chicken, avocados, jalapeño peppers, among other ingredients.[7] Pupusas can be served alongside curtido (a type of spicy coleslaw), tomato sauce, plantains, tamales, and vegetables.[13][14][15]: 1  Pupusas are cooked on comals[15]: 1  and are traditionally eaten by hand without utensils.[14] According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, each pupusa averages around 350 calories.[9] Locations that specialize in the preparation of pupusas are known as pupuserías.[12]

Cultural significance

El Salvador

A woman making pupusas in Ahuachapán.
Pupuserías in Olocuilta, nicknamed the "City of Pupusas"

Pupusas were not initially important for Salvadoran culture or cuisine and were not featured prominently in Salvadoran literature until the 1960s.[10] The dish's importance grew significantly during the Salvadoran Civil War as pupusas spread to and became popular in the United States in the 1980s.[3][11] On 20 April 2005, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador approved Decree 655 that declared the second Sunday of November to be National Pupusas Day ("Día Nacional de las Pupusas").[16][17] November was chosen as it marks the peak of corn harvesting in El Salvador.[3]

The city of Olocuilta is nicknamed the "City of Pupusas". The city's pupuserías receive much of their business from people traveling north along the Autopista Comalapa from the El Salvador International Airport to San Salvador.[18] Olocuilta has four locations known as pupusódromos where several pupuserías are located in close proximity with each other.[3]

Salvadoran director Héctor Mojica produced a miniseries titled Las Pupusas about the dish. It was released on Amazon Prime Video in 2022 and 2023.[11][19]

United States

Pupusas spread to the United States during the 20th century when Central American immigrants moved to the country to escape violence in their home countries and opened pupuserías in the U.S.[12] Pupusas are commonly eaten in cities such as Los Angeles,[14] San Francisco,[12] Washington, D.C.,[20][21]: 6  and New York City. In 2011, The Guardian named pupusas that year's Best Street Food in New York City.[13]

Taco Cabana, a Tex-Mex chain in Texas, created a dish called the pupusa that consists of chicken strips in a corn tortilla. It has no relation to the Central American dish.[22]

Economic impact

Pupusa sales play a significant role in the Salvadoran economy. According to the Ministry of Economy, pupuserías generated US$22 billion in revenue between 2001 and 2003.[23] In 2004, the Salvadoran Chamber of Consulting Entrepreneurs estimated that Salvadorans consumed around US$1.6 million worth of pupusas each weekend.[3][11] By 2005, around 300,000 people made pupusas for a living with a majority of them being women.[23]

Records

A 5.5-meter-wide (18 ft) pupusa created in Antiguo Cuscatlán in 2016[24]

In 2007, Guinness World Records recognized a 1.15-meter-wide (3.8 ft) pupusa created in El Salvador as the largest in the world. The pupusa fed 5,000 people.[25] This record has since been broken on several occassions, with the most recent being in 2024 when a 6.1-meter-wide (20 ft) pupusa was created in Washington, D.C.[26]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "La Guerra de las Pupusas: ¿Son Salvadoreñas u Hondureñas? Univision34 Investiga" [The Pupusa War: Are They Salvadoran or Honduran? Univision34 Investigates]. Univision (in Spanish). Los Angeles, California. 27 July 2011. Archived from the original on 6 June 2016.
  2. ^ a b Sanchez, Alejandro (8 September 2014). "COHA Research: Food Wars in Latin America". Council on Hemispheric Affairs.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Erazo, Ronald (12 November 2023). "Las Pupusas: ¿Hubo Riña con Honduras? Cuál es el Origen de Este Alimento Prehispánico que Evolucionó Hasta ser Declarado Plato Nacional de El Salvador" [Pupusas: Was There a Dispute with Honduras? What is the Origin of this Pre-Hispanic Food that Evolved Until Being Declared the National Dish of El Salvador?]. La Prensa Gráfica (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  4. ^ Diccionario de Americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish). Association of Academies of the Spanish Language. 2010. ISBN 9788429495508. OCLC 535494434.
  5. ^ a b Pérez de Novoa, Lidia Georgina (2019). Interludio y Otros Versos [Interlude and Other Verses] (in Spanish). Liber Factory Coedición Lord Byron. ISBN 9788417707392. OCLC 1110126677. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  6. ^ Lemus, Jorge E. (September 2016). "La Palabra Pupusa no es Pipil" [The Word Pupusa is Not Pipil] (in Spanish). Don Bosco University. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d Acosta, Dennis (13 November 2022). "¿Dónde Surgió la Primera Pupusa Salvadoreña?" [Where Did the First Salvadoran Pupusa Originate?]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  8. ^ Gómez, Iván (8 December 2003). "Honduras Insiste con Pupusas" [Honduras Insists with Pupusas]. El Diario de Hoy. Archived from the original on 31 October 2004. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
  9. ^ a b Puente, L. (21 June 2022). "Cinco Peculiares Datos que Quizás no Sabías Sobre las Pupusas". El Diario de Hoy (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  10. ^ a b c Herrera, Alejandro. "Las Pupusas: Historia, Evolución y Popularidad Nacional" [Pupusas: History, Evolution, and National Popularity]. Guanacos (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Mondragón, Lissette (13 November 2022). "Un Plato Modesto Convertido en Referente Cultural" [A Modest Dish Turned into a Cultural Reference]. La Prensa Gráfica (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  12. ^ a b c d e Kiniry, Laura; Kavanaugh, Daniel (11 July 2019). "For Salvadorans, Pupusas Mean Comfort". BBC. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  13. ^ a b Resnick, Perry (26 September 2011). "The Best Street Food in New York". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
  14. ^ a b c Hansen, Barbara (9 August 1990). "Pupusas". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Pupusas and the Arepa" (PDF). Vanderbilt Center for Latin American Studies. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  16. ^ "Declárase Día Nacional de las Pupusas" [Declaring the National Pupusas Day]. Legislative Assembly of El Salvador (in Spanish). 20 April 2005. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  17. ^ "Secultura Invita al Día Nacional de la Pupusa" [Secultura Invites to National Pupusa Day]. Ministry of Culture (in Spanish). 2018. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  18. ^ Galdamez, Eddie (1 October 2023). "Olocuilta El Salvador: Pupusas and Beyond, the Culinary Delights of This Small Town". El Salvador Info. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  19. ^ "Las Pupusas" [The Pupusas]. Amazon Prime Video (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  20. ^ Barnes, Sophia; Patron, Mariela (8 November 2019). "Praising the Pupusa: DC's Love for an Iconic Salvadoran Dish". WRC-TV. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  21. ^ Rodríguez, Ana Patricia (2016). "Becoming "Wachintonians": Salvadorans in the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area". Washington History. 28 (2). Historical Society of Washington, D.C.: 3–12. ISSN 1042-9719. JSTOR washhist.28.2.3. OCLC 9970280163.
  22. ^ Peralta, Eyder (27 July 2006). "Bona Fide Pupusas: Classic or Clueless? Here's How to Tell". Chron. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
  23. ^ a b "Las Pupusas: Ícono Culinario Salvadoreño Celebrará Su Día" [Pupusas: Salvadoran Culinary Icon To Celebrate Its Day]. El Periodista (in Spanish). 4 November 2014. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  24. ^ "Guinness World Records – The Largest Pupusa". Restaurantes LA. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  25. ^ "Historia de la Pupusa Salvadoreña" [History of the Salvadoran Pupusa]. Cultural Magazine Islamic Library (in Spanish). 14 January 2013. Archived from the original on 20 January 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  26. ^ Uber, Emma (28 September 2024). "Salvadoran Chefs in D.C. Break World Record for Largest Pupusa". The Washington Post. Retrieved 30 September 2024.

Further reading

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