Travel-Stained Life

Ecuador is not exactly a traveling foodie’s top destination.  To the best of our knowledge, prior to our trip to South America we had never eaten Ecuadorian food before.  As a matter of fact, we had never even seen an Ecuadorian recipe or restaurant in our time on this Earth.  That includes our three years living in the ethnic restaurant mecca of the United States…Houston, Texas.  So it was safe to say that our arrival into Quito provided our first glimpse into what exactly this little country on the equator eats.  Some of it was great, some was horrible, and some simply got old very quickly.  On our way out of the country, we wanted to take a look back at some of the dishes, drinks and snacks we encountered in our jaunt through Ecuador.

For mealtimes at restaurants, there are essentially two options: set menu or a la carte dishes.  The set menus, almuerzo at lunch and cena at dinner, are very cheap and are usually offered more at local hole-in-the-wall restaurants as opposed to tourist ones.  In our experience, prices ranged from $1 to $3 for these meals, which include soup, a entree and sometimes a dessert or drink.  You never know what is going to show up with your set menu, usually rice, potatoes  and chicken or grilled beef, but it can also include intestines, stomach lining and even chicken head!

A la carte dishes are always more expensive and are similar to ordering off of a menu other places in the world.  In most instances, the dishes are very similar to the set menus, but you are straying from the big pot that the owner has prepared in the back for everyone else.  A few specialties that we tried that are particularly different than what we have in the US are cuy and ceviche.  Cuy is roasted guinea pig and is a delicacy in Ecuador.  They are cooked in a similar way as rotisserie chickens and are typically served whole (head, claws, everything)  for at least 4 to 6 people to enjoy.  It looks a bit gnarly and it does not make a filling meal, but the meat is quite tender and tastes like less fatty duck.

Ceviche is probably a known entity, but Ecuadorian ceviche is not like that served in the US.  It is served all over the country and consists of a soupy concoction of seafood: squid, octopus, fish, shrimp or mixed.  It is high in salt and lime juice and is very tasty.  It is rumored that it is typically served raw on the coast, but all we saw seemed to be cooked.

For the most part, the drinks in Ecuador seem to be pretty similar to what we see other places.  There is lots of coca cola (sorry Mom, no Pepsi!) and some strange Fanta flavors like apple and neon green.  Many juices are served in restaurants, especially with set menus, but many of these were unknown to us and will probably stay that way.  A popular drink served everywhere is morocho, which is a sweet, white, grain-based drink.  Many spices are used and it is quite delicious most of the time.  Our favorite drink while we were there was colada morada.  This is a drink served only around the time of All Saint´s Day (in November) and consists of blackberry juice warmed and infused with spices like cinnamon and cloves.  It is similar to our apple cider and is quite delicious.

Our favorite part of Ecuadorian cuisine is the snacks.  There are always street vendors selling something and much of it is very, very good.  A common snack is the empenada.  This is much different than an empenada further south in South America.  An Ecuadorian empenada is a pillow of fluffy, deep fried dough that is usually filled with cheese. Another snack we saw often was the platano con queso.  Very simply, this is a grilled sweet banana that is sliced down the middle and topped with a small wedge of Ecuadorian cheese.

Fruit is abundant in Ecuador and much of it is also very tasty.  A very popular snack in Otavalo is the guava.  Different from guava in the US, guava in Ecuador is a mutant pea pod looking fruit.  Upon opening the pea pod, little white fruits greet you, which are very sweet and contain a large black seed in the middle.  Besides guava, street vendors are seen all around Ecuador selling a variety of fruits including mangoes and strawberries…out of wheelbarrows!!

With so much time and so much food in Ecuador, it is hard to summarize it all.  Upon looking back, we are glad to have tried the good and the bad and seen all the different ways things can be prepared and presented.  While we will miss the food of Ecuador, we are certainly glad to be through with chicken and rice almuerzos for the time being!