Pupusas at Tamejavi

Yesterday I attended the Tamejavi Festival, an annual celebration of the Central Valley's ethnic and cultural diversity, with Samina, Maya, and Cyrus. We arrived in time to see a number of children's dance performances which I'll blog about on The Icing. We also went through the Time Tunnel which featured the various cultures which call the Central Valley home. Inside it, we saw historical photographs and descriptions of American Indian, Mexican, African American, Filipino, Hmong, and Armenian life. One woman showed us a cute four-in-one doll: an African American girl, a white girl, and the wolf and the granny (from Red Riding Hood) which Maya loved. Samina was excited to see Carlos Bulosan, author of America Is in the Heart, featured. I think Cyrus most enjoyed reflecting on the two goals he had scored at his soccer game that morning.


It will likely come as no surprise that my favorite part of the event was the Cultural Kitchen, serving dishes from several San Joaquin Valley cultural groups. After surveying the choices, we decided to try food from El Salvador. The cooks piled thick, doughy disks on the outdoor grill, which steamed invitingly. A huge orange cooler contained thinly sliced cabbage, and smiling people walked away with plates of delicious looking food cooked by a local restaurant, Ambiente Tropical.

We wanted to try a little bit of everything, so we ordered a combination plate. The items on the grill turned out to be pupusas, a thick tortilla filled with cheese and beans. I very much enjoyed the pupusas and want to go to Ambiente Tropical which serves five different types (including queso con loroco made with cheese and El Salvadorean flower buds and ayote y queso filled with a green squash and cheese). The pastelito was also quite tasty, meat and potatoes encased by a corn fritter. The cabbage salad with hot sauce was spicy enough to make our noses run. And the fried platanos and lemony cream were sprinkled with sugar. I have to admit that by the time I got to the platanos, I was so full I could only eat one section. This was some of the best festival food I've eaten in a long time, and I look forward to exploring a new cuisine.

Maya was happy to get a vegetarian tamale to take home with her. I had a lovely afternoon with dear friends!