SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
And finally, pupusas - the flat griddle cake is made of corn flour, often filled with cheese, meat or vegetables, and is a staple of Salvadoran cuisine - so much so that El Salvador has often held the Guinness World Record for the largest pupusa ever made - that is, until Saturday.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
DETROW: Eighty chefs from across the D.C. area set a Guinness World Record Saturday by making a pupusa that is 20.2 feet in circumference. Iris Jimenez was one of them, and she joins me now in our D.C. studios. Welcome, and congratulations.
IRIS JIMENEZ: Thank you for having me. Yes, so exciting to be here.
DETROW: What was the motivation for doing this?
JIMENEZ: Specifically, we've always called D.C. the District of pupusas. We have so many pupuserias - actually, 270 pupuserias in the DMV. So it only made sense that we all got together and figured out a way to do this and create this massive mega-pupusa.
DETROW: You talked before about the pride in this region, about how many pupuserias are here and in just the El Salvadoran community here in Washington, D.C. What did it mean for you and for everybody who worked on this to set this record?
JIMENEZ: You know, pupuseras, pupuseros - people who make this specific kind of food have never really had any kind of - anyone, like, say, wow, you do an amazing job. And to have all of these teams and everyone hugging each other, like, you did an amazing job was such a beautiful moment. Because I feel like all the pupuseras and pupuseros got their - like, they're visible to the world. You know what I mean?
DETROW: Lastly, how does the world's largest pupusa taste compared to a regular old pupusa?
JIMENEZ: It tasted amazing. I tried it.
(LAUGHTER)
JIMENEZ: I tried it. I loved it. It's a little crispier than a traditional one. That's for sure.
DETROW: OK.
JIMENEZ: But all the times that we've tried it, we're like, no, this has to be cooked a little more. No, we have to have a little more filling. Because we did want it to taste just as good as a traditional pupusa tastes.
DETROW: That's Iris Jimenez, culinary director for La Casita Pupuseria, in Washington, D.C.
JIMENEZ: Thanks for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
