Pupusa
A stuffed griddle cake from El Salvador and Honduras.
A pupusa is a thick, stuffed flatbread cooked on a griddle, originating from El Salvador and Honduras. Its dough is made from either cornmeal or rice flour and is filled with ingredients such as cheese, beans, chicharrón, or squash. It is typically eaten by hand and often accompanied by curtido and tomato sauce. In El Salvador, this dish holds the status of national dish and is honored with its own annual celebration day.
The exact origin of the word "pupusa" remains unknown. The Dictionary of Americanisms suggests it comes from the Nawat word *puxahua*, meaning "fluffy" or "fluffy thing." Writer Lidia Pérez de Novoa proposed a link to the Nawat word *pupusawa*, meaning "to puff up," a view supported by Central American University professor Ricardo Ernesto Roque. However, Salvadoran linguist Jorge Lemus argued that the term has no Nawat roots, noting that the Pipil people called them *kukumuzin*. Another theory, from Santiago Barberena, suggested a combination of the K'iche' words *pop* ("sphere") and *utz* ("good thing") to form *poputz* ("good sphere"), though this compound does not appear in any K'iche' dictionary.
Both El Salvador and Honduras claim to be the birthplace of the pupusa. Roque tied its origin to the Pipil people based on the Nawat etymology, but Honduran professor Héctor Miguel Leiva Carías countered that Nawat was also spoken in Honduras. Anthropologist Ramón Rivas placed its origin more broadly in Mesoamerica. During 2003 negotiations for the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement, El Salvador sought to patent the pupusa as an exclusive export. Honduran negotiator Melvin Redondo ceded that right, and in 2018, the World Trade Organization listed El Salvador as the pupusa's designated origin.
The pupusa's earliest ancestor was a thick corn tortilla from the Pre-Columbian era in what is now El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. In 1570, Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún recorded that Indigenous Americans made a dish of dough mixed with beans and meat. The first mention of a modern pupusa came in 1837 from Guatemalan poet José Batres Montúfar, who described a similar Nicaraguan dish called *rellenas* and noted its resemblance to pupusas from San Salvador. Honduran Alberto Membreño later defined the pupusa in his dictionary as an empanada stuffed with cheese, beans, and other fillings, cooked on a comal.
Quick Facts
- Country
- El Salvador · Honduras
- Region
- Central America
- Served
- Hot
- Main Ingredient
- Corn or rice flour / Fillings (e.g. meat, cheese, beans, vegetables)
- Calories
- 350
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The earliest ancestral dish of the pupusa originated in the Pre-Columbian era in modern-day El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala as a thick corn tortilla. Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún wrote in 1570 that Indigenous Americans prepared a dish consisting of a mixture of dough, beans, and meat in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. 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, noting their similarity to pupusas, which he attributes as being from San Salvador. The pupusa was also mentioned by Honduran Alberto Membreño in Diccionario de Hondureñismos where he described it as an empanada composed of cheese, beans, etc., enclosed in a tortilla and cooked on a comal. At that time, pupusas were most commonly eaten by the poor and prepared in rural areas. In the late 1930s, corn became scarce and some Salvadorans replaced the corn flour to make pupusas with rice flour. This method, known as pupusas de arroz, began in Olocuilta and further spread during the Salvadoran Civil War due to further corn scarcity.
Reader's Guide
The pupusa holds deep cultural significance in El Salvador, where its importance grew during the Salvadoran Civil War as pupusas spread to and became popular in the United States in the 1980s. On 20 April 2005, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador approved Decree 655 that declared the second Sunday of November to be National Pupusa Day. November was chosen as it marks the peak of corn harvesting in El Salvador. 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. By 2005, around 300,000 people made pupusas for a living, with a majority of them being women. The city of Olocuilta is nicknamed the 'city of pupusas' and has four locations known as pupusódromos where several pupuserías are located in close proximity. The pupusa's origin was discussed during negotiations for the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement in 2003, and in 2018 the World Trade Organization listed El Salvador as the pupusa's denominación de origen. The dish has also spread to the United States, where The Guardian named pupusas the 2011 Best Street Food in New York City.
Did You Know?
- The origin of the term pupusa is unknown; proposed derivations include the Nawat word puxahua meaning 'fluffy' and a combination of K'iche' words pop and utz meaning 'good sphere'.
- The largest pupusa ever made was 6.1 meters wide (20 ft) and was created in Washington, D.C.
- Pupusas de arroz, made with rice flour, originated in Olocuilta during corn scarcity in the late 1930s.
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