You’ve heard of a quesadilla, maybe even an empanada, but what in the world is a pupusa?
Yesenia Ramirez, event coordinator for the Arizona Pupusas Festival, describes this national Salvadoran dish as a handmade corn tortilla that is stuffed with your choice of filling — typically pork and cheese, bean and cheese or loroco and cheese, a plant that is native to Central America. Once stuffed, the ends are closed and the tortilla is flattened to be cooked on a grill.
“Of course, with people’s different dietary preferences, we can make them with chicken, steak, shrimp and vegan style,” Ramirez said. “It’s a very flexible product — everybody can have pupusas.”
Saturday marked the 12th annual Arizona Pupusas Festival. The event was hosted at First Church UCC Phoenix, where attendees spent the day navigating food trucks, bouncy houses, face paint and live cumbia music.
Ramirez and her family manage four Salvadoreño restaurants across the Phoenix metro area and have been a vendor for the event since its conception in 2006.
In 2005, the Salvadoran government declared the second Sunday of November to be National Pupusa Day. As the popularity of the food grew, Salvadorans began creating more celebrations to reconnect with their home country.
Originally from El Salvador, Ramirez said the festival is a way to celebrate her culture as well as expose others to it.
“If we can do that one pupusa at a time then that’s what we’re going to do,” Ramirez said.
Evan DeGroot and his wife, Maria, first had a pupusa from Salvadoreño’s Zpotes food truck a few weeks prior and decided to come to the festival.
“Salvadorian food rules,” Evan DeGroot said. “It’s so good.”
While it was their first time here, both said they are looking forward to coming again next year.
“I’m glad we were able to come out and support this community and have a pupusa — because they’re delicious,” Maria said.
According to a 2014 Pew Research Center study, Salvadorans make up 7.4 percent of the Hispanic population in U.S. metropolitan areas.
In Phoenix, Salvadorans do not make up the biggest Latino group, but even so, there is a shift in the Salvadoran community toward a sense of belonging, Ramirez said.
“The more we do these events, the more pride people have,” Ramirez said.
A portion of the proceeds raised went back to First Church so they could continue funding their outreach programs toward immigrants and the homeless.
“Our heart is in the immigrant community because we’re immigrants ourselves,” Ramirez said. “We want to make sure [First Church] continues to have funding for the people that come in and stay with them.”
The DeGroot family said they are always interested in coming to events in the Phoenix area that support locals and the city.
“We’re always for supporting anything that goes back into the community,” Maria DeGroot said. “We’re part of the area, so it’s really cool to see them give back.”
Ramirez said she hopes the event allows people to gain a positive image for who Salvadorans are.
“Our goal is to promote our culture in a positive environment and let people know that we have great food, we’re good people, and we’re here to grow business-wise, as people and help others along the way,” Ramirez said. “You have to remember where you came from, and some of that is through the food and culture.”
Contact the reporter at amalabad@asu.edu.
