Salvadoran Cuisine

The pupusa dominates: a thick disc of maize or rice masa patted by hand, stuffed with cheese, refried beans, chicharron or loroco flower buds, cooked on a griddle and served with curtido, a lightly fermented cabbage and carrot relish, and a thin tomato sauce. It is eaten with the hands, usually in the evening, and pupuserias are everywhere. Around it: yuca frita con chicharron, fried cassava with pork and curtido; panes con pollo, a long sandwich of marinated chicken with salad and sauce, eaten at festivals; tamales wrapped in banana leaf; sopa de pata, a tripe and trotter soup; fried plantain with cream and beans for breakfast; and coffee from the volcanic highlands, much of it exported.

What you actually see

• Pupusas - the stuffed masa discs with curtido and salsa.
• Yuca frita - fried cassava with pork and pickled cabbage.
• Panes con pollo - the marinated chicken sandwich of festivals.
• Highland coffee - the crop from the western volcanic slopes.

When to go

Year round. Pupusas are traditionally an evening food and most pupuserias open in the afternoon. National Pupusa Day falls on the second Sunday of November. Olocuilta on the airport road is the rice-flour version.

Honest expectations

The repertoire is narrow and pupusas dominate to the point of monotony over a long stay. Vegetarian pupusas are easy; wider vegetarian eating is harder. Street stall hygiene varies. Loroco has a strong flavour not everyone likes.

Nearby

Olocuilta for rice pupusas; Los Planes de Renderos above San Salvador.