By: Jorge Luis Macías / Special for Real America News
Saturday, November 23
Pupusas: the star dish of the table
The Salvadorans of Los Angeles have long tablecloths today Sunday with the celebration of National Pupusa Day, the typical dish of their gastronomy that is part of their cultural identity anywhere in the world.
Just as pizza and spaghetti distinguish Italians or tacos distinguish Mexicans, pupusa – that food made with corn or rice dough and that can be filled with cheese, loroco, pork rinds, beans, meat and even fish, among other ingredients— identifies Salvadorans as a flag.
In 2005, the Legislative Assembly of the “Thumbelina of America” decreed the celebration of National Pupusa Day every second Sunday in November.
“ Pupusa is a gastronomic and cultural heritage that truly defines the term of being Salvadoran ”, considered Salvador Sanabria, president and executive director of El Rescate, a non-profit organization that defends the interests of migrant workers.
That small Salvadoran town, but large globally, marks its cultural identity wherever its people settle, through its gastronomy: from Canada to the United States, from Stockholm (Sweden) to Berlin (Germany) and from Milan, Italy to Mexico.
Indeed, Sanabria says that after going into exile in Mexico due to political persecution over the years 1980, met with friends in the Federal District (today known as Mexico City), and at the Seminary Bautista de San Ángel, along with his “chilangos” friends, shared tacos and pupusas.
“In the accompaniment of ideas and gatherings, that brand of cultural identity of Salvadorans with that dish “, he added.
” Pupusa is a mark of cultural identity; That’s why tanned cabbage and that tomato sauce taste so delicious. ”
When the Hispanization of Mesoamerica occurred with the arrival of the Spanish, pupusas already existed on the table of indigenous peoples, including the region known as Señorío de Cuscatlán -dominated by the Pipil people, descendants of the Mayans – which, after the geopolitical division, was later called El Salvador.
It should be noted that the main economic engine in the provinces of Señorío de Cuscatlán was corn, followed by the cultivation of cocoa – mainly in the provinces that were not on the coast or near Lake Ilopango, such as the departments of Sonsonate and Ahuachapán.
“In the culture of the region, the pupusa was common , but without the cheese, because the cheese was brought by the Spanish ”, said Sanabria. “At that time I had not yet developed livestock or milk-derived products.”
The taste of happiness
In fact, pupusas are the main food that the palate of Salvadorans and Latinos falls in love with with beans, as they are prepared to the taste of the most demanding diner.
So Freddy Córdova, a Salvadoran born in Chalatenango and owner of the El Cafetalito restaurant in City of Commerce understands and does it.
“The pupusas are exquisite; everyone wants to try them, ”he said. “When one eats them, one remembers the place where one was born, and wherever you go, you always try to rediscover the flavors that made you happy as a child.”
The traditional specialty of the house are scrambled pupusas, cheese, beans with cheese, chicarrón, cheese with loroco and squash.
