Pupusa facts for kids
A pupusa is a thick griddle cake or flatbread from the cuisine of El Salvador. It is a traditional food of El Salvador. Pupusas are made with corn flour, beans, cheese, chicharrón (pork), or any filling. People usually eat pupusas at breakfast and dinner. It is eaten with tomato sauce and curtido.
History
Pupusas - also known as pupisio - were first created by the Pipil tribes in El Salvador. Over time cooking material for their preparation have been found in Joya de Cerén, “El Salvador’s Pompeii”, place of a native small town that was buried by ashes from a volcano explosion, and where foodstuffs were preserved as they were being cooked almost two thousand years ago by the tribes. The articles for their preparation have also been found in other archaeological sites in El Salvador.
Different types
Depending on what city people visit, they’ll find different types of Pupusas. if they go to the coast side, they’ll find Pupusas filled with shrimp and fish. Pupusas can be also filled with different types of flowers like “flor de Izote” (El Salvador national flower), lorocco, Cucurbita argyrosperma, cilantro, Chamaedorea tepejilote, chipilín, mora, chicken, and papelillo.
Around the Americas
There are various types of Pupusas in El Salvador alone. From the way the dough is made to the preparation and even the fillings that are used, each place and pupuseria can have their own take on making a pupusa. On the other hand, El Salvador, a pupusa de arroz is also a popular variant. It is made from rice flour instead of cornmeal. Pupusas are all around the world, what’s different is the name its region give them. For example, in Mexico, pupusas are called gorditas. They are basically the same with a different name. Of course pupusas are not always going to taste the same, depending on what type of dough people make them with. Pupusas might taste a little different when using commercial corn or rice flour instead of masa harina (dried cornmeal flour) that Salvadorians use.
Images for kids
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Making pupusas in Las Chinamas, El Salvador
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Traditional pupusas in El Salvador are cooked over wood fire, using a pottery griddle (called a comal).
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Pupusas revueltas stuffed with meat, beans and cheese
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Pupusas and tomato sauce
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Pupusas for carryout, in El Salvador, are wrapped in plastic and then in paper. (Here the paper is unwrapped to show the pupusas)
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A pupusería in Santiago Texacuangos, El Salvador. Note the various pupusas advertised on the wall: chicken, jalapeño, chipilín, and avocado
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A pupusería in Olocuilta.
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An outdoor pupusería in El Salvador at night
See also
In Spanish: Pupusa para niños
