Food & Dining

Ecuador has plenty of variety when it comes to food, and it's easy to eat well for little. Its diverse and fertile geographical regions facilitate the production of a startling array of foods, including dozens of exotic fruits and vegetables and three different regional ethnic styles of cooking. Every major world cuisine is represented in Quito's culinary spectrum, with a healthy serving of cafes and fast-food joints tossed in for good measure. Like hotels, most restaurants are located in New Town, including almost all those serving foreign food. Cuisines include Middle Eastern, Italian, Mexican, Indonesian, German and Cuban.

A typical restaurant menu would comprise of fish (usually trucha or corvina, trout or sea bass), chicken or beef served with rice, chips or patacones (fried plantain), topped off with a smidgeon of salad. The fish or chicken may be fried, boiled or breaded. Occasionally you'll find comidas típicas (especially in sierran areas), the traditional food of each region, cropping up on menus, or you can resort to western fast-food outlets, such as Burger King, opening in Quito or the pizza and pasta parlours which are springing up in many Ecuadorian towns.

Markets are among the cheapest sources of food, not only because of the range of nutritious fruits and produce on offer, but also from the makeshift restaurants and stalls that dole out fried meats, potatoes and other snacks; although they may not be overly scrupulous on the hygiene front, food prepared and cooked in front of you should be fine. Street vendors also supply snacks such as corn-on-the-cob or salchipapas, a popular fast food comprising a bag of chips propping up a sausage, all doused in ketchup. Vendors often carry their wares onto buses and parade the aisles to tempt passengers.

Corn, a staple grain was the central ingredient in the indigenous people’s diet. The many different ways of preparing choclo are as old as the festival honoring it. The womenfolk would prepare a traditional dish called Tanda, especially for the Inti-Raimi festival. Tanda is made from sweetened corn mash known as zancu, cooked in a clay vessel and wrapped in corn husks. It was served at a special Inti-Raimi dance party called tanda-najushpa or tanda-najuichi. Today, a similar dish called humito is widely sold throughout Ecuador at all times of the year.

Another traditional food is fanesca, served during Easter Week. A dish that traces its origins to Carapungo in Calderón, in northern Pichincha Province, fanesca is known locally as uchucuta. It is often served with cuy (spit-roasted guinea pig), topped with ají (hot sauce). Despite Spanish influence, traditional cuy and uchucuta can still be found to this day on dinner tables throughout the Andean region.

Caldo: soups and stews are very popular and are often served in markets for breakfasts. Soups are known as Caldos, Sopas or Locros. Chicken soup, or Caldo de gallina is the most popular. Caldo de patas is soup made by boiling cattle hooves.

Cuy: whole roasted guinea pig. This is a traditional food dating back to Inca times. It tastes rather like a cross between rabbit and chicken. The sight of the little paws and teeth sticking out and eyes tightly closed is a little unnerving, but Cuy is supposed to be a delicacy and some people love it.

Lechon: suckling pig. Pigs are often roasted whole and are common sight at Ecuadorian food markets. Pork is also called Chancho.

Llapingachos: fried mashed-potato-and cheese pancakes often served with fritada -scraps or fried or roasted pork.

Seco: stew. The word literally means 'dry'. The stew is usually meat served with rice and can be seco de gallina (chicken stew), de res (beef), de chivo (goat), or de cordero (lamb).

Tortilla de mais: tasty fried corn pancakes.

Yaguarlocro: potato soup with chunks of barely congealed blood sausage floating in it. Many people prefer just straight locro, which usually has potatoes, corn and an avocado or cheese topping.

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