By Marlon Villa
Chef Eder Rivas, owner of Salvadoran food truck “What’s That You’re Cookin?” taught students how to properly knead dough and grill pupusas during a step-by-step class on Tuesday.
Specializing in authentic Salvadoran cuisine, Rivas led this class as part of a lineup of Latinx Heritage Month cooking lessons hosted by Associated Students, Inc. Beach Kitchen.
Rivas learned how to make pupusas from his grandma at a young age, and now teaches these classes to carry on his grandparents’ legacy.
“My grandpa taught me how to buy everything and my grandma taught me how to put everything together,” Rivas said. “Every time I make pupusas now, I’m connected to them.”
ASI Beach Kitchen hosted the class to highlight traditional Salvadoran food and offer students a journey through different flavors of Hispanic culture.
“We work together with campus departments to create sessions for all to enjoy and learn flavors of the world,” said Beach Pantry Manager Christina Limon.
A group of 13 students took part in the session, where they made bean and cheese pupusas, with the option of adding shredded pieces of pork belly.
Students in the class struggled the most with kneading the dough, as Rivas explained that it couldn’t be too dry or it would break apart. Adding cheese on the corners of the dough and centering the beans were among the easier steps of the process for students.
Students seemed to have the most fun molding their dough, as some had both tiny or extremely large pupusas.
Senior Leslie Ortega molding the dough with beans and cheese as one of the last steps before grilling her pupusa. Photo credit: Marlon Villa
Rivas believes these courses positively highlight aspects of Salvadoran culture.
“I feel like when people see our culture and how we make our food and how it’s put together, I think people respect the culture of food,” Rivas said.
Even students who were already familiar with the dish expressed that they now have a better understanding of what efforts go into making it.
“I feel like I always thought it was something super complicated to make, but it’s not,” said attendee Josue Navarro.
Sophomore Gisselle Orozco thinks these events are opportunities to do something fun with her friends and to learn how to cook.
“I’d like to cook it for my family, you know, show them how to cook pupusas,” Orozco said.
The class took around an hour and a half to complete, which included Rivas sharing a traditional Salvadoran orange soda while students ate the pupusas they had finished making.
Among the other sessions taking place for Latinx Heritage Month are tortilla and tamale-making classes.
