Though there is
archaeological evidence that pupusas have been made in El Salvador for thousand's of years, the
20th century history of the dish is one of constant migration. First, in the
1950s and
1960s, rural Salvadorans with native roots moved to the cities and took their traditional food with them, establishing the pupusa as a national dish. Later, during the Salvadoran Civil War of the
1980s, there was a steady migration northward, establishing Salvadoran communities in every major
US and
Canadian city. The result has been an increasingly popular addition to North American cuisine.