Food in Ecuador

     I know this blog used to talk about food all the time. How I make it. Yummy food I had. I have not spent much time reflecting on that here because there have been many challenges. I've been tinkering with this post for days and have not really said anything partially because there has not been much to say. Today however we had our first great cooking experience.

     Our language/surfing school offered cooking classes and we finally booked a class with them. Ivonne and Luis, the language teachers, brought their mother and sister in to teach us how to make ceviche. It was great to see this Ecuadorian family make one of their frequent (weekly) dishes. They grew up just two towns down the coast and had ceviche every Sunday with arroz and chifles. It was very fresh with vegetables we chopped up there. I was allowed to help chop and Luis said 'Paulo es bueno chef.' Madre also made her own chifles, plantain chips, from scratch that the reasurants serve store bought from a bag. Her children were surrounding her helping; her son was smiling ear to ear especially when he ate the ceviche. What a wonderful experience. The recipe is pretty simple but we got some great tips from the source and we will make it for you when we get back. 

     Now back to the post I have been working on.

     We are still learning how to get the ingredients that we are used to cooking with. There are a couple of great fruit and vegetable stands here but the produce is ripe enough that it has to be used that day or the very next because they don't use any preservatives. I'm not used to broccoli going bad after a day. The mangos, limes, pineapples, papayas, strawberries, cherries, and watermelons are yummy and everything seems to be in season. The veggies are okay but not what we are used to, except the tomatoes, peppers and avocados, they are great. Our produce bill is equal to how much I spend on just apples in Seattle. 

      Groceries are much harder to get. On our first big shopping trip we got some canned goods like beans, tomatoes and tuna however there are no can openers to be found in this little town. Two weeks later in the big city the big grocery store had only one can opener and it was electric. We will see how long it lasts since everything metal here starts to corrode. 

     There is no fresh protein at the grocery store except eggs. All animal proteins are sold on the street each morning because most people don't have a fridge. We have seen many a man chopping up chickens and filleting fish on the back of their tricylcles. We have done what we can with frozen chicken and packaged ham. The best chicken, fish and pork we have eaten is at restaurants owned by the locals. They know where to get chicken and pork. Beef is not part of the typical food in this region. This may change when we move up into the Andes. 

     Seafood is becoming easier now that we know how to do it. Just hang out in town in the morning and someone with a big bucket of fish or shrimp or langoustines will eventually drive by.
     One of our new friends who has been here for a couple of years has picked up a few recipies. She know how to make fresh limeaide and tortilla de verde, green plantain fritters, or Ecuadorian latkes as I think they taste. 

     We are learning that we are indeed first world people. As much as we are trying to assimilate we are not fully making that happen. So we will continue to do the best we can. But man do I miss Central Market.