A rich, savory aroma wafted through the Claremont air last Thursday afternoon as students and faculty got together for an annual cooking workshop.
On Oct. 16, The Claremont Colleges’ Chicano Latino Student Affairs office (CLSA) provided a taste of El Salvador’s national dish for their fourth annual “Top Chef featuring Central American Cuisine: Pupusas” event.
5C students and faculty gathered around the stovetop in Pitzer’s Demonstration Kitchen as veteran pupusa-maker Shirley Polanco gave a step-by-step demonstration on how to create the Central American delicacy. Polanco filled a disc of cornmeal with beans, chicharones and cheese before gently molding it into a ball, flattening it and slapping it onto the sizzling stovetop.
Soon enough, attendees flocked to the counter, filling their hands with pupusa ingredients as Polanco wandered through, chatting and offering gentle tips on technique. As more pupusa-enthusiasts filtered into the kitchen, some students dug into their pupusas, dousing them in tangy curtido slaw.
CLSA first hosted the event in the fall of 2022, when Thelma Calvo HM ’21 (KGI ’24) proposed an opportunity to highlight the iconic Central American dish.
“The [CLSA] center was focused on bringing in more cultural events that weren’t Mexican-centered,” Calvo said. “A lot of people were complaining that it was too Chicano-centered.”
Pupusas play a significant role in Central American culture — in El Salvador, the second Sunday of November is celebrated as “National Pupusa Day.” When she heard about CLSA’s goal of highlighting diverse cultures across Latin America through immersive, hands-on experience, Calvo suggested bringing in her mother, Polanco, to lead workshops.
Calvo said her mother, who has now led this workshop every year since 2022, loves sharing her culinary knowledge with the wider 5C community. She described how Polanco first learned how to make pupusas at her friends’ restaurant when she first moved to the United States. She hopes to pass along this tradition for generations.
“It’s hard to get our own community, Salvadorians, to remember how to keep making pupusas,” Calvo said. “For her, it’s more about the legacy of having other people still know how to make them.”
For many attendees, Thursday’s workshop offered an opportunity to celebrate Salvadorian heritage and tradition.
“I made pupusas a lot of the time when I was younger, but I haven’t had the chance to make them in a while,” Nicole Gutierrez SC ’29 said. “It definitely brings back good memories.”
Others enjoyed the opportunity to embrace elements of Latin American tradition more broadly.
“I’ve been exposed to a lot of Latin American food in my community, so being able to experience that here is really nice,” Maria Mukhar CM ’28 said. “There was a lot of culture surrounding me. I’m from Latin America and Mexico, so it’s nice to also have that here.”
Some students, like Gutierrez, grew up eating and making pupusas. For others, however, Polanco’s workshop was an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in making a food that they would usually just order in.
“I have a very fond memory of this pupusa shop in Seattle next to where I had my first trombone recital, and I’ve been a pupusa fan ever since,” Nate Butcher PO ’29 said. “I’ve never been on the cooking side of it. Working with my hands and making my food is kind of a rare experience for me. It was fun!”
“I hope this event helps people come together no matter the differences in cultures,” Escobedo said. “It’s about coming together and having fun and getting to know each other, no matter what country you’re from.”
As pupusas sizzled on the griddle, attendees chatted with one another, drawing parallels between their cultures. One attendee, a friend of Calvo’s, noticed that pupusas bear many similarities to arepas, a staple of Colombian and Venezuelan cuisine..
“I know we all have our differences and we have different cuisines, but there’s always something in between that ties us,” Calvo said. “I really like that there’s something that ties us all. We’re all still a community together, even if it’s not the exact same.”
From the beginning, Calvo and her mother, Polanco, have placed an emphasis on welcoming as many different people and traditions as possible, while still highlighting the classic Salvadorian pupusas. Calvo explained her effort to show the rich variety within pupusa-making traditions.
“In El Salvador, based on if you’re on the coast or not, you might also get some [pupusas] with fish,” Calvo said. “There are other popular flavors, like fried shrimp. It gets really interesting based on where you live.”
With a steady stream of pupusas coming off the griddle, 5C students and staff continued to chatter excitedly, their plates piled high with their own handmade creations.
As the event wound down, Miriam Escobedo, the administrative and events coordinator at CLSA, surveyed the scene.
“I hope this event helps people come together no matter the differences in cultures,” Escobedo said. “It’s about coming together and having fun and getting to know each other, no matter what country you’re from.”
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