Pupusa
Form: Flat bread
Country of origin: Salvador
What distinguishes it from other methods of bread making: Stuffed griddlecake or flat bread
Category of bread: (2 and 9) Similar to the Mexican corn tortilla or the Columbian and Venezuelan arepa, but richer then both
Particularity: With the large migration of Salvadorians during the Civil War (1980-1992), pupusa spread to neighboring countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, etc., as well as to the U.S.
Ingredients: Dough: corn masa flour; salt; warm water. Filling: cheese; fried pork rinds; squash; pinto beans; etc.
Salvador
The invention of pupusa is attributed to the Pipils, who lived in these territories before the arrival of the Europeans. Remnants of their culinary art have been found in what is referred to as the “Salvadorian Pompeii,” i.e. the site of Joya de Cerén. This site appears to be extremely ancient. Like the maize tortillas of the Aztecs, or the manioc cassava of the pre-Columbian Taínos in the Dominican Republic and similar Mesoamerican and Caribbean populations, pupusa demonstrates a particularly rich bread baking tradition long before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.
The originality of this flat Salvadorian bread is that it is stuffed with lot of good ingredients before cooking, and therefore, like the empanada, available in all of Latin America, can serve as a meal all on its own. Its wide distribution in neighboring countries and the U.S. is explained by the forced exile of Salvadorians during the murderous Civil War during the 1980s. Its popularity is above all because the pupusa is a classic in fast-food restaurants, and has become a sort of top “gastronomic” reference thanks to globalization.
Corn dough is therefore stuffed with different ingredients that form the personality of the Salvadorian bread: quesillo cheese (cheese found in Central America); chicharrón (fried pork rind); squash (local squash or pumpkin); pinto beans, etc. Pupusa dough can also be made using rice flour. Rice pupusas are especially renowned in the town of Olocuilta.