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Published: August 7th 2007
about to tuck in!
Guess what I´m about to eat?Can eating be counted as a hobby? I don´t know, but if so, it´s my favourite one. I´m very good at it. In fact, you could say I´m a natural. So I was delighted to have a new range of foods to explore and ravage in Ecuador.
The Six Basic Facts About Ecuadorian Food
1. Carbohydrates. If you´re on a non-carb diet, you´re in the wrong country and will be very very hungry. Rice and potatoes accompany almost every main course. In fact, it´s not unusual to be served both rice and potatoes on the same plate!
2. Corn. The amount of traditional food that is produced from corn is astounding. eg humitas, slightly sweet corn dumplings with the texture of mashed potato, usually steamed in a banana leaf. Or the delicious tortillas de maiz, fried corn pancakes. Such is their ingenuity with corn that I half expect to see yellow cars made of corn, cruising down the highway. Mobile phones made of corn, corn MP3 players, people eating off corn plates and tables. (Sorry, went off on one there)
3. Salsa Picante. Every restaurant or cafe has a small bowl of homemade spicy sauce at the
the infamous Guinea Pig
Tasty, tasty, tasty! NOT table to spoon over your food
4. Fruit Juice. (Jugo de frutas). I have never been to a country so enthusiastic about freshly squeezed fruit juice. It´s fantastic! In the average week, you will never drink the same one twice. Papaya, pineapple, passion fruit, lemon, orange, blackberry.... In fact, I have tasted at least five fruits which I can´t translate because they don´t even exist in England, such as Naranjilla.
5. Soup. Ecuador is quite possibly the soup capital of the world. If you have a three course meal, it will involve soup 99% of the time. But luckily the quality and variety of soup will keep gastronomic boredom at bay. For a while anyway
6. Fried Bananas/Plantains. They are never far away
Unusual food
I´ve discoverd a few unusual foods and food combinations so far...
1. A side salad of lettuce, cold peas and cold broccolli with ceasar dressing
2. Cheese for breakfast. A nice slice of cold mozzarella on toast in the morning ain´t too bad!
3. Scrambled eggs for breakfast, with a side salad. Wan´t sure about this one. Salad tends to be my arch-enemy at the best of times. Has NO PLACE at the breakfast table! Away with you damn greens
4. Soup with a side plate of chunky chips to dip or throw in. Like a big bowl of gravy, mmmmm!
5. Ceviche. Raw fish and shellfish marinaded in lemon juice. I haven´t tried this yet, but apparently the acidity of the juice kind of "cooks" the fish!
6. Potato soup with fried blood!?
7. Some supermarkets sell milk in bags! I guess it´s a recycling strategy?
8. Tripe and potatoes in a peanut-based sauce
I have also tried a certain rodent that is a traditional speciality in Ecuador. Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing the Roast Guinea Pig! They are roasted on spits, and you can order a whole, half or quarter. I went for a half, and wondered if I´d get the head or the backside. Turns out they´d cleaved it lengthways, so I got both! Oh joyous rapture!
NOT.
I´ll eat most things, but I didn´t enjoy this much. It still had it´s paws and claws, and the head was intact, with goofy teeth and little burnt ears. There wasn´t much meat on it, and what I did salvage was like inferior chicken. I only found out afterwards that the SKIN is the delicacy, like the crispy skin on duck, or pork crackling. I won´t be trying it again. Let´s just hope I have more luck with Llama Steaks in Peru
Vegetarian of the Year Award
This goes to Elisa from Canada who was at my Spanish School. She´s a vegetarian, but she told me she tried the steak in Argentina. I asked her why, and she said "Well, it´s meant to be the best steak in the world, so I had to see what the fuss was about"
Fair play!!!
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MonzaBruce
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The Guinea Affair
Peter Ellison I'm incomprehensively grossed out!! Wolf Creek gave me 2 weeks of sleepless nightmares and now I'll be imagining a crispy skinned yellow guinea pig ready to pounce with a vengence in the shady dark corners of the loo in the middle of the night! Thank god I'd already eaten tonight. And it was vegetarian. Keep up the chronicles and a massively 'uge mega cheers to you for my parcel - you really are a true champion (thanks too Justine!) and I was absolutely stoked a.k.a. stoked-newington-on-stoke-under-tyne-over-lyme-with-ma-tribe (english style). So much appreciated. Bon Appetite wee wee mr Guinea Pork crackling! MonzaChops xXx