pupusa

The exact origin of the term {{lang|es|pupusa}} is unknown. The {{ill|Dictionary of Americanisms (Royal Spanish Academy){{!}}Dictionary of Americanisms|es|Diccionario de americanismos}}, published by the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, states that pupusa derives from the Nawat word {{lang|ppl|puxahua}} meaning "fluffy" or "fluffy thing".{{cite book|title=Diccionario de Americanismos|year=2010|trans-title=Dictionary of Americanisms|language=es|publisher=Association of Academies of the Spanish Language|isbn=9788429495508|page=1,787}} In her book Interlude and Other Verses, Lidia Pérez de Novoa believed that pupusa derives from the Nawat word {{lang|ppl|pupusawa}} meaning "to puff up".{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BL-PDwAAQBAJ&q=pupusa|title=Interludio y Otros Versos|trans-title=Interlude and Other Verses|language=es|date=2019|access-date=6 July 2023|first1=Lidia Georgina|last1=Pérez de Novoa|publisher=Liber Factory coedición Lord Byron|isbn=9788417707415|page=71}}

Salvadoran linguist Jorge Lemus argued that the word pupusa does not have Nawat roots, stating that the Pipil people referred to pupusas as {{lang|ppl|kukumuzin}}. In his book Quicheísmos: Contribution to the Study of American Folklore..., {{ill|Santiago Barberena|es|Santiago Ignacio Barberena}} believed that the word pupusa originated from a combination of the K'iche' words {{lang|quc|pop}} (meaning "sphere") and {{lang|quc|utz}} (meaning "good thing"), forming the word {{lang|quc|poputz}} meaning "good sphere", however, the term {{lang|quc|poputz}} does not appear in any K'iche' language dictionaries.{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339887120|title=La Palabra Pupusa no es Pipil|trans-title=The Word Pupusa is Not Pipil|language=es|date=September 2016|access-date=6 July 2023|first1=Jorge E.|last1=Lemus|publisher=Don Bosco University|pages=1–5}}

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 people due to the name meaning "swollen" in the Pipil language.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}} Honduran etymologists say that since the Pipil language is so close to the Nahuatl language, the Nahuas of Honduras could have created the dish.{{cite web|title=La Guerra de las Pupusas|url=http://losangeles.univision.com/mes-de-la-hispanidad/article/2011-07-27/origen-de-las-pupusas-salvador-honduras|date=27 July 2011|work=losangeles.univision.com|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716020748/http://losangeles.univision.com/mes-de-la-hispanidad/article/2011-07-27/origen-de-las-pupusas-salvador-honduras|archive-date=16 July 2015|df=dmy-all}} 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 Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA–DR). Both nations wanted to make the pupusa an exclusive export. After two days, the Honduran delegation ceded the right to El Salvador.{{cite web|title=Honduras Insists pupusas|url=http://www.elsalvador.com:80/noticias/2003/12/08/nacional/nacio4.html|author=Gómez, Iván |date=8 December 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041031230137/http://www.elsalvador.com:80/noticias/2003/12/08/nacional/nacio4.html|archive-date=31 October 2004}}

File:Nicaraguan Cheese Pupusas.jpg, locally known as rellenas in the departments of Masaya, Granada, and Rivas]]

The oldest historical record of pupusas dates back to Nicaragua in 1837, when Guatemalan poet José Batres Montúfar documented and ate the dish while traveling through Masaya, Rivas, and Granada.{{Cite web|url=https://guanacos.com/historia-de-las-pupusas/|title= The Pupusas: History, Evolution and National Popularity|date= 28 November 2022}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.laprensagrafica.com/elsalvador/Un-plato-modesto-convertido-en-referente-cultural-20221112-0055.html|title= A Modest Dish Turned Into a Cultural Reference|work=La Prensa Gráfica}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.laprensagrafica.com/elsalvador/Las-pupusas-de-San-Salvador-son-bicentenarias-20211113-0047.html|title= The Pupusas of San Salvador are bicentennial}} He recalled through a letter he wrote to his family.

The tortillas cost 8 per half a real, but they are enormous, a foot in diameter and true laborer's pistons: they are almost never called tortillas, except for their accidents: one filled, that is, a pupusa from San Salvador; a stir, ground the dough together with the cheese; an empty one, which is what I prefer, is the one that has nothing extra.{{Cite web|url=https://guanacos.com/historia-de-las-pupusas/|title= The Pupusas: History, Evolution and National Popularity|date= 28 November 2022}}

Pupusas have been linked to the Pipil tribes who inhabited the territory now known as El Salvador. A version of the pre-Columbian pupusa was vegetarian and half-moon shaped. In the late 1940s, pupusas were still not widespread across El Salvador and were mostly localized in the central towns. They were documented previously in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras.{{Cite web |title=La palabra pupusa no es pipil |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339887120}} As the Salvadoran 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 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.{{cite web|url=https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-wp0/wp-content/uploads/sites/99/2017/08/07153335/Pupusas-Arepas.pdf|title=Pupusas and the Arepa|access-date=2021-03-22|archive-date=5 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005173633/https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-wp0/wp-content/uploads/sites/99/2017/08/07153335/Pupusas-Arepas.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web |last1=Kiniry |first1=Laura |last2=Kavanaugh |first2=Daniel |date=11 July 2019 |title=For Salvadorans, pupusas mean comfort |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190711-for-salvadorans-pupusas-mean-comfort |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=BBC |language=en}} By the 1990s, they were common in cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.{{Cite news |last=Hansen |first=Barbara |date=9 Aug 1990 |title=Pupusas |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-08-09-fo-0-story.html |access-date=13 May 2022}} Pupusas have been popular in Washington, D.C., since the 1980s and in 2019, 6 November was declared the day of the pupusa.{{Cite web |last=Rodriguez |first=Carmen |date=2019-08-19 |title=National day of pupusas in Washington D. C. |url=https://vozdeladiasporanews.com/dia-nacional-de-la-pupusa-en-washington-d-c/ |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=Voz del la Diaspora |language=en |archive-date=5 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005173634/https://vozdeladiasporanews.com/dia-nacional-de-la-pupusa-en-washington-d-c/ |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |last1=Barnes |first1=Sophia |last2=Patron |first2=Mariela |date=8 Nov 2019 |title=Praising the Pupusa: DC's Love for an Iconic Salvadoran Dish |url=https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/the-pupusa-iconic-salvadoran-dish-is-a-dc-mainstay-national-pupusa-day/2106358/ |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=NBC4 Washington |language=en-US}}

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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.asamblea.gob.sv/decretos/details/1535|title=Declárase Día Nacional de las Pupusasecreto Día Nacional de las Pupusas — Asamblea Legislativa|website=www.asamblea.gob.sv|language=es|access-date=2020-05-29|archive-date=6 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806150021/https://www.asamblea.gob.sv/decretos/details/1535|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.cultura.gob.sv/secultura-invita-a-celebrar-el-dia-nacional-de-la-pupusa/|title=Secultura invita al Día Nacional de la Pupusa|website=www.cultura.gob.sv|language=es|access-date=2020-05-29|archive-date=23 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623144409/http://www.cultura.gob.sv/secultura-invita-a-celebrar-el-dia-nacional-de-la-pupusa/|url-status=dead}} 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 {{Convert|3.15|m|ft|sp=us}} in diameter and was made with {{Convert|200|lb|kg}} of masa, {{Convert|40|lb|kg}} of cheese, and 40 pounds of chicharrón. It fed 5,000 people. Five years later, the record was broken again with a pupusa {{Convert|4.25|m|ft|sp=us}} in diameter.{{cite web|title=Historia de la Pupusa Salvadorena|url=http://www.redislam.net/2013/01/historia-de-la-pupusa-salvadorena.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200120103513/http://www.redislam.net/2013/01/historia-de-la-pupusa-salvadorena.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-01-20|work=redislam.net|date=January 2013}} Guinness World Records listed the largest pupusa at {{Convert|15|ft|m}}, created in Olocuilta, El Salvador, on 8 November 2015.{{Cite news|url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-pupusa|title=Largest pupusa|work=Guinness World Records|access-date=2017-09-24|language=en-GB}} This record was broken on 28 September 2024 when Salvadoran chefs in Washington, D.C. created a {{convert|20|ft|m|adj=mid|-wide}} pupusa.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/09/28/pupusa-guinness-world-record-dc/|title=Salvadoran Chefs in D.C. Break World Record for Largest Pupusa|language=en|date=28 September 2024|access-date=30 September 2024|newspaper=The Washington Post|first1=Emma|last1=Uber}}

In 2011, The Guardian named pupusas that year's Best Street Food in New York.{{cite web|title=The best street food in New York |author=Resnick, Perry|url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/sep/26/new-york-best-street-food|date=26 September 2011 |work=The Guardian }}

Both at home and abroad, pupusas are traditionally served with curtido (a pickled cabbage relish, analogous to German sauerkraut and Korean kimchi that comes in mild and spicy varieties) and tomato sauce, 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.Cordova, Carlos B. "The Salvadoran Americans". p 102. Westport, Conn. Greewood, 2005. Web

File:2010.05.04.165724 Pupusería Las Chinamas El Salvador.jpg, western El Salvador]]

File:Traditional Pupusas over wood fire.jpg}}.]]

A pupusa is a handmade maize or rice tortilla stuffed with ingredients. Stuffing can include cheese, refried beans, squash, loroco, and {{lang|es|chicharrón}}.

A variant of the pupusa in El Salvador is the {{lang|es|pupusa de arroz}}, originally hailing from the town of Olocuilta in the east of San Salvador.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} 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 {{lang|es|pupusa de banano}}, which calls for the addition of plantain bananas to the pupusa.

Pupusas are also found in neighboring Central American countries. Honduran versions use the local {{lang|es|quesillo}} type of cheese for the filling. In Costa Rica, 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 {{lang|es|gordita}} (literally, "little fatty"), but gorditas are usually open at one end. In Colombia and Venezuela, they make {{lang|es|arepas}}. Colombian {{lang|es|arepas}} are usually eaten without filling, or the filling is placed inside the dough before cooking. Venezuela has its own recipe for {{lang|es|arepas}}, but, unlike Colombian {{lang|es|arepas}}, the dough is cooked first, and then sliced in half and stuffed somewhat like a hamburger.

Pupusas made in the United States are typically made with Maseca commercial corn flour-{{lang|es|masa}} mix,{{citation needed|date=December 2018}} instead of fresh {{lang|es|masa}}. Some high-end {{lang|es|pupuserías}} in the United States use rice flour and wheat flour versions. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, variations include using spinach, pepperoni, cheese, and green chile.

Taco Cabana, a Tex-Mex chain in Texas, created a dish called the pupusa that has no relation to the Salvadoran food.Peralta, Eyder (27 July 2006). [http://www.chron.com/entertainment/article/Bona-fide-pupusas-1522608.php "Bona fide pupusas: Classic or clueless? Here's how to tell"], Houston Chronicle Dining Guide, p. 4

File:Plain pupusas revueltas.jpg|{{lang|es|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.

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

File:Sarita's Pupuseria - February 2024 - Sasrah Stierch 01.jpg|Pork and bean pupusa from Sarita's Pupuseria in Los Angeles, California

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.{{Cite news |last=Alfaro |first=Karla |date=15 Jan 2022 |title=Pupusas increase in price in downtown San Salvador |work=CE Noticias Financieras English |publisher=ContentEngine LLC |location=Miami |access-date= |via=ProQuest}}

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.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}

Frozen pupusas can be found in the refrigerated section of many Hispanic and international supermarkets in the United States, especially those located in highly concentrated areas of Salvadorans such as Washington, D.C., and Long Island, New York.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

Pupusa sales play a significant role in the Salvadoran economy. According to the Salvadoran Ministry of Economy, in 2001–2003, pupuserias generated $22 million. The export of ingredients such as loroco has also helped boost the economy.{{cite web|title=Las Pupusas: ícono culinario salvadoreño celebrará su día|work=El Periodista|date=4 November 2014|url=http://www.elperiodista.com.sv/index.php/45-municipios-activos/804-las-pupusas-icono-culinario-salvadoreno-celebrara-su-dia.html|access-date=9 May 2015|archive-date=18 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518095746/http://www.elperiodista.com.sv/index.php/45-municipios-activos/804-las-pupusas-icono-culinario-salvadoreno-celebrara-su-dia.html|url-status=dead}} As of 2005, some 300,000 people made pupusas for a living, with a majority of them being women.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

{{portal|El Salvador|Food}}

• Latin American cuisine
• List of maize dishes
• List of street foods

{{reflist}}

• Carman, Tim. "[https://lib.byu.edu/remoteauth/?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=wapo.a9bfdd4a-792b-11e1-9362-cd989ac6bfb2&site=eds-live&scope=site. Perfect Pupusas Require a Mastery of Masa]". The Washington Post, 2012.
• Lawson, Susan C. "[https://lib.byu.edu/remoteauth/?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=6644089&site=eds-live&scope=site. Latin LESSONS]". Indianapolis Monthly, vol. 25, no. 10, 2002, pp. 164.
• Nickles, Greg. [https://lib.byu.edu/remoteauth/?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=khh&AN=17905579&site=eds-live&scope=site. "The Flavors of El Salvador"]. El Salvador: The People & Culture, 2002, pp. 28–29.
• {{cite book | last1=Planet | first1=L. | last2=Staff | first2=Lonely Planet Publications | title=The World's Best Street Food: Where to Find It and How to Make It | publisher=Lonely Planet Publications | year=2012 | isbn=978-1-74321-664-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wat9BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT137 | access-date=30 July 2016 | page=137}}
• Scherer, Jane. "[https://lib.byu.edu/remoteauth/?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mih&AN=1252547&site=eds-live&scope=site. Pupusas]". Faces, vol. 15, no. 3, November 1998, p. 19.

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Category:Maize dishes

Category:National dishes

Category:Salvadoran cuisine

Category:Tortilla-based dishes

Category:Honduran cuisine