Guatemalan Cuisine: Mayan Pizza or Giant Pupusa
Pupusas is a name inherited from El Salvador to a dish which can be found in the Southeast Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and quite possibly all the countries in Central America under various names. Pupusas are “normally” about the size of CD and are made from a mixture of maize dough, cheese, and whatever ingredient you ask for from a menu. The pupusa here is about three or four times the “normal” size and thus the name: Mayan pizza. It is way over a pound and it has four ingredients and costs about Q20 ($2.50). This is Guatemalan “fast” food, if you know what I mean.
Why maize and not corn? Funny you asked, I was going to tell about a great book with a very short name: 1491. In this book, the author makes a clear distinction between one word and the other. Maize can only mean one thing, while corn is often used as crop in other parts of the world.
Maize is grown in what is called a milpa. The term means “maize field,” but refers to something considerably more complex. A milpa a field, usually but not always recently cleared, in which farmers plant a dozen crops at once, including maize, avocados, multiples varieties of squash and bean, melon, tomatoes, chilies, sweet potato, jicama (a tuber), amaranth (a grain-like plant) and mucuma (a tropical legume)… Milpa crops are nutritionally and environmentally complementary… Milpa is one of the most successful human inventions ever created. [ed. Just a fragment on the chapter about maize).
This book is so good and so bad at the same time. It is a book rich with the latest scientific and historic facts; and that makes it so good. This book has some many truths in it that will shatter everything you think knew about America (the continent); it is almost like regaining conscience. I do not recommend this book if you are very comfortable with what you know now, even though most of is myth. Okay, you are forewarned. 
Daily Content
July 10th, 2006
gracias por la actualización. ¡saludos de las Filipinas!
July 10th, 2006
I’m sold! Now, where to get one of those in Long Beach?! YUM!
July 10th, 2006
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July 10th, 2006
This is only the beginning of your food posts, yes? I’m in trouble. This one alone has made me salivate!
wonderful post and equally wonderful picture.
July 10th, 2006
Islandboy, thanks for the update y muchas gracias por la visita. Pronto te visitaré.
Jonathan, actually your request is simple. Remember, I lived in Long Beach and I had pupusas there. They might not have this giant pupusa, but for sure you can taste the normal size. This applies to all the people living in pretty size city the U.S.; you have to look pupusas, pupuseria, Salvadorean restaurants in the Yellow Pages. I did a quick search in Google and see what I found.
Edwin, yes this is only the beginning and you better hide the scale.
July 10th, 2006
I bet that would be good with a cold beer.
July 10th, 2006
Yum Yum. Looks good, even for me a vegetarian.
July 10th, 2006
I had heard about this book, and now you have sold me on it. I’ll have to read it.
July 11th, 2006
i know i’ll love them..yummy looking!
July 11th, 2006
mmm…looks really yummy and very much like the Mexican food I know of
July 11th, 2006
your are correct about the name corn, wish i could read that book. i am always interested in hearing the real story.We are never to old to learn. Once I was talking to this young Mexican girl and I used the term America for U S A and she correct me. i hear many newsmen and politians talk about our country as AMERICA. The point being we are part of America not the only america.But it is true in this country we tend to think that our country is THE COUNTRY.
July 11th, 2006
Oh please, I’m hungry now!
But yeah, a few myths could do with shattering. That looks like a book I would enjoy.
July 11th, 2006
Yummy, looking forward to more food posts! What’s that on top?
July 13th, 2006
I am eager to try this. Your photo is enticing. We were out picking up our Vietnamese lunch today and spotted the “pupusa” on the sign for Taco Cabana. I didn’t know what it was but Sarah mentioned you had posted a pic. I bet your version is MUCH better than what is at TC.
July 15th, 2006
Sompopo, you are right. it was good with cold ‘Gallo’ beer. I wish you were here.
John, you can have this pupusa vegetarian, if you can have cheese, you can order your pizza maya with greens.
Luggi, you should run and do an Amazon one-click purchase.
Kris, it tastes much more better than what it looks.
Lisi, Mexican have many foods that are very similar; quesadillas are one example.
Patsy, I am glad you understand that America is much more than one country.
Pamela, you should read the book 1491. It is worth your money and your time.
Thiên, you should try anyway. You’ll never know.
September 28th, 2006
There is a serene and peace-ful feeling about being here. Makes you want to stick around for a while.
December 19th, 2006
[...] All the cultures of the world found a way to include carbohydrates in their diet. Maize-based foods and tortillas are the carbohydrates for the Mesoamerican cultures. It is the equivalent of rice and wheat for Asia and Europe. Maize, however, is much more than a food group. Maize defines the Mesoamerica’s peoples. I have posted several entries regarding maize, but I believe I stated its importance more clearly in Mayan Pizza and Frijoles Colorados. Maize is one of the most important ingredients in the genesis of the human kind according the Popul Vuh, the Mayan equivalent of the Bible. [...]
June 16th, 2008
[...] of tectonic magnitudes. See Guatemala and Mexico share the birth place of maize, which was and is the most important crop in human history. The richest diversity of maize can be found in Mesoamerica; in other words, Mexico, Guatemala, [...]