Walk the streets of San Salvador, and you’ll never be far from the toasted-corn scent¹ of cooking pupusas.

The griddled corn bread is both a beloved snack and a national icon².

To make pupusas, a cook wraps a filling of cheese, pork or spiced beans into tender corn dough³, then pats the mixture onto a blazing-hot griddle. A bright topping of slaw-like curtido cuts through the fat and salt for a satisfying meal.

It’s a flavor that’s endured through the centuries. At the UNESCO-listed site of Joya de Cerén, a Maya city buried by an erupting volcano, archaeologists have found cooking tools like those used to make pupusas that date to around 600 A.D.