Isela Post

Isela is a Belizean mother who has been cooking from memory and from markets her whole life. Her recipes carry the food of the Yucatec Maya tradition, the corner store ingredients of daily Belizean life, and the party table of every celebration she has ever fed people at. She writes for the Belize News Post.

Plate of Salvadoran salpores de arroz, pale golden rice-flour cookies scored in a crosshatch pattern, one broken open to show the crumb
Salpores de Arroz Recipe DessertEl Salvador

Salpores de Arroz Recipe

Salpores, or salpores de arroz, are traditional Salvadoran rice flour cookies with a dry, crumbly shortbread texture, flavored with cinnamon and anise. Made from rice flour, butter, sugar, and egg, they are a classic Salvadoran pan dulce eaten with coffee or atol, a staple of home bakeries and holiday tables across El Salvador. Why salpores are El Salvador's coffee-table cookie The first time I ate a salpor, I was standing in a kitchen in San Salvador, watching someone's grandmother open a tin from the top shelf. She didn't offer it…
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
Bowl of Honduran sopa de capirotadas, golden fried masa and cheese cakes floating in an achiote-tinted tomato broth with peppers and onion, tortillas alongside
Honduran Sopa de Capirotadas Recipe DinnerHonduras

Honduran Sopa de Capirotadas Recipe

Sopa de capirotadas is a savory Honduran Lenten soup of small fried dumplings made from corn masa and cheese, simmered in a tomato and achiote broth. Despite the shared name, it is not the Mexican capirotada, a sweet bread pudding. Honduran families eat it during Semana Santa as a meatless meal. The first time you make this, the part that surprises people is the order of operations. You fry the dumplings before they ever touch the broth. That single step is what holds the whole dish together, and most cooks…
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
A Honduran tamale wrapped in corn husk served with a cup of coffee
Ticucos DinnerHonduras

Ticucos

Corn-masa tamales folded around loroco or chipilín, wrapped and steamed. The herb is what makes them, and this is how the region's cooks get it right.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
Glass bowl of Honduran chismol with finely chopped tomato, onion, green bell pepper and cilantro
Chismol HondurasSauces

Chismol

The everyday Honduran table relish of chopped tomato, onion, green bell pepper, and cilantro in lime. Fresh, barely spicy, and spooned over everything from carne asada to fried fish.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
Honduran montucas, fresh-corn tamales wrapped in corn husk
Montucas DinnerHonduras

Montucas

Honduran fresh-corn tamales from young elote, ground soft and a little sweet, filled with pork or chicken and steamed in the husk. Southern Honduras makes them when the corn is in.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
Salvadoran torrejas, a fried egg-bread slice glossy with syrup, served with a hot milky drink
Torrejas DessertEl Salvador

Torrejas

Slices of dense egg-yolk bread fried and steeped in cinnamon-clove panela syrup. Not an everyday sweet: the one Salvadoran families make for Christmas and Semana Santa.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
A cup of hot chilate, the traditional Salvadoran corn drink spiced with ginger and black pepper
Chilate BeverageEl Salvador

Chilate

A thick, barely sweet corn drink from El Salvador, masa simmered with allspice, ginger, and black pepper. Served hot in a jícara beside nuégados at fairs and street stalls.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
A street vendor selling food from a cart in San Salvador, El Salvador
Atol Shuco BeverageEl Salvador

Atol Shuco

A hot, sour, savory street drink of fermented black corn, served in a jícara under alguashte, red beans, and chile. It has fueled early mornings in El Salvador's western highlands for generations.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
A street vendor selling produce in San Salvador, El Salvador — the kind of market stall where riguas are often sold freshly griddled
Riguas El SalvadorRecipes

Riguas

Salvadoran fresh-corn griddle cakes: young elote ground coarse and cooked on the comal until the edges crisp. A harvest-season snack, eaten warm with crema and cheese.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
Mariscada recipe — creamy mixed seafood soup with shrimp, crab, and fish, El Salvador style
Mariscada DinnerEl Salvador

Mariscada

El Salvador's creamy mixed-seafood soup: shrimp, fish, crab, mussels, and clams in a broth rich with cream and achiote. Born in the beach comedores of La Libertad as a celebration dish.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026