El Salvador's most notable dish is the pupusa. Pupusas are a thick hand-made corn
tortilla (made using masa de maíz or masa de arroz, a maize or rice flour dough used in Latin American cuisine) stuffed with
one or more of the following:
cheese
(usually a soft Salvadoran cheese, a popular example is Quesillo con loroco), chicharrón (a ground pork product, often mixed
with tomato paste), and refried beans. Loroco is a vine flower bud native to Central America. There are also vegetarian options,
often with ayote (a type of squash). Some adventurous restaurants even offer pupusas stuffed with shrimp.
Pupusas come from the pipil-nahuatl word, pupushahua. The pupusa's exact origins are debated, although its presence
in El Salvador is known to predate the arrival of Spaniards.
Two other typical Salvadoran dishes are yuca frita and pan
con pavo. Yuca frita, which is fried cassava root, is deep fried and served with curtido (a pickled cabbage, onion and carrot
topping) and pork rinds or pepesquitas (fried baby sardines). The Yuca is sometimes served boiled instead of fried.