【Direct attack on Europe and the United States】A must-see food when traveling in Ecuador
For foreign visitors, Ecuador offers a range of colorful cuisines, some of which are older than the Incas. Here are the most traditional foods you must try when you visit.
Holy Week Spring Soup
It's a very hardy, thick, sacred stew that is traditionally offered only once a year for Easter – the week before Easter Sunday. Among other ingredients, it has figleaf gourd ("sambo"), pumpkins and various legumes – 12 in total – as well as grains including lentils, corn, broad beans, parsley and various herbs. Each of the 12 different beans represents an apostle, and the cut salt cod alludes to Jesus. It is usually only consumed at lunchtime, in front of friends and family.
Chugchucaras
"Chugchucaras" is a word in Quechua, which is the pre-Colombian language of the locals, which translates to "chest -skin", and the part that belongs to pigs. In addition to fried pork, pork skins, and pig's feet, this platter also has cooked polenta (coarse corn), small potatoes, roasted corn, plantain, and a small piece of cheese filling. There is an urban legend that the pig itself is cooked with the water of the local fountain St. Martin to provide a "magical" taste.
Bread guaguas
Guaguas de pans or "bread children", prepared during the celebration of The Day of death, are another exotic Ecuadorian food with unique religious ties. These jelly-filled sweet pastries mean clothes that resemble babies tightly wrapped in swaddling — though it could also be a distant echo of the dry tradition of the former Columbia mummy. As a result, not all pastries are consumed, but are taken away and left behind on deeply departed tombstones. Guagua – another Gaichuan word – is paired with a thick, sweet, brewed purple drink known as colada morada, featuring blueberries, blackberries, pineapple peels and sugars and spices.
Quinoa
Quinoa grains have always been a staple food in the Andes, even dating back to pre-Inca societies. The most commonly sold and consumed quinoa is ivory quinoa, but black and red quinoa are almost equally popular; Studies have shown that there are as many as three thousand different varieties. Due to its high concentration of protein and lack of gluten, it is increasingly attracting attention to the wider world, and there are as many ways to provide quinoa in Ecuador as there are rice, although many people prefer simple quinoa soup, made with onions, butter, and salt.
Sautéed plantains
Usually sold on street corners, a large banana — a cousin of a banana — is cut in the middle and filled with a slice of mozzarella cheese, and the grill has been a popular, cheap — inexpensive1 — nutritious fast food in Ecuador for decades.
Ecuadorian ceviche
Ceviche – a type of cold-cured seafood – is ubiquitous in any Latin American country bordering the sea, but Ecuador's ceviche has its tiny differences. Like Peruvian ceviche, it has sea bass and shrimp. Unlike the Peruvian variety, it is supplied along with the juices it prepares. It is usually served with roasted corn, popcorn, and/or plantain slices.
Llapingachos
Llapingachos – pronounced ya-peen-gah-choes – are technically friends potato pie stuffed with cheese, but they are also sometimes made with flour made from the root plant yuca. The pie is also served with peanut butter. This dish originated in the city of Ambato and is particularly popular with the inhabitants of the Ecuadorian mountains.
Morocho
Morocho, made from milk, sugar and ground white corn native to Ecuador — a thick sweetened drink such as the aforementioned colada morada — is often sold on street corners and in open-air markets. Made with vegetables and a small amount of sugar, it can also be served as a soup.
Quimbolitos
Similar to Taco, quimbolitos offer ground corn or occasionally quinoa, wrapped in palm leaves and steamed. They often have raisins and are served as dessert foods, but they can also include beef, chicken, pepper and hard-boiled eggs and serve as a main meal.
Green bolon
Made from crushed green (meaning immature) plantains, a polon de verde roughly translated as "green ball" – like a large dumpling. Lovers of fried foods should relish because the core ingredients are fried once to soften, then mashed and mixed with pork and/or cheese to form balls and then fried again.
Fried yuca
Yuca root – also known as cassava – is the third most popular source of carbohydrates in the world, even though few in North America and Europe are known. Fried yuca is as common as french fries. Gluten-free starch from yuca root is used to make cassava.
