Salvadoran Cuisine

Salvadoran cuisine is hearty, wholesome Central American food, and it is defined above all by one beloved dish: the pupusa, the national treasure. This thick, hand-patted corn or rice tortilla is stuffed with fillings like cheese, refried beans, chicharrón pork or the flower bud loroco, griddled until golden, and served with curtido, a tangy pickled cabbage slaw, and a thin tomato salsa. Beyond the pupusa come hearty stews and soups, yuca frita with fried pork, fried plantains, tamales, fresh Pacific seafood, and the excellent coffee grown on the country's volcanic highland slopes.

What you actually see

• Pupusas - the beloved stuffed griddled corn tortillas.
• Curtido - the tangy pickled cabbage that accompanies them.
• Yuca frita and plantains - the fried cassava and plantains.
• The highland coffee - the fine coffee from the volcanic slopes.

When to go

Year-round; humble pupuserías everywhere griddle pupusas fresh to order, especially popular in the evenings and at weekends, and are the quintessential Salvadoran eating experience, cheap, delicious and sociable. Markets and local eateries serve the wider range of dishes, while the highland towns of the Ruta de las Flores are the place to sample the country's fine coffee at its source.

Honest expectations

Salvadoran food is simple, hearty and corn-based, centred overwhelmingly on the humble pupusa rather than a wide or refined range, so its appeal is cheap, delicious, satisfying comfort food and the sociable pupusería culture rather than culinary variety; the usual care with water and street food applies. The pupusa itself, though, freshly griddled and served with tangy curtido, is genuinely delicious and a beloved national institution well worth discovering.

Nearby

Pupuserías everywhere, the markets and the highland coffee towns are the places.