Olocuilta Pupusas

Pupusas, thick filled griddle cakes, are the national dish of El Salvador, usually made from maize masa and filled with cheese, beans, chicharron or loroco flowers, served with curtido, a lightly fermented cabbage relish, and a thin tomato salsa. Olocuilta, on the highway between San Salvador and the airport, is known for making them from rice flour instead, which gives a paler, crisper and slightly sweeter cake, and the town has built an economy on it: a long row of pupuserias lines the road, with women working the griddles in the open and buses and cars pulling in through the day and late into the night. It is the standard stop on the way to or from a flight.

What you actually see

• Rice-flour pupusas - the paler, crisper local version on the griddle.
• The pupuseria row - the line of open kitchens along the highway.
• Curtido and salsa - the cabbage relish and tomato sauce served with them.
• The griddle work - the shaping and cooking done in the open.

When to go

Year round; the stalls work from morning until late at night. The town is busiest in the evening and around flight times. Pupusas are traditionally an evening food across the country.

Honest expectations

This is a highway stop, not a town to explore; the pupuserias are on the road and the town behind is ordinary. Hygiene varies between stalls; the busiest are usually the safest. It is a stop of an hour.

Nearby

The international airport lies south; San Salvador is north.