ANTH 205 Lecture 8

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Ecuador Foodways

Timeline

POH-TAY-TOES (What's taters, precious? What's taters, aye? Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew!)

• Native to andes
• cultivated by 5000 BC
• can grow 4 Km above sea level

Corn

• cultivated by 4000 BC
• grows up to 2.3 Km above sea level

Sweet taters 1000–900 BC

Wheat, bananas, sugar cane 1500-1600 AD

First Ecuadorian cookbook, El Cocinero Practico published in 1883

First McDonald's in 1997

Staples

Native:

• Corn
• Legumes
• Potatoes
• Cassava (tapioca stuff; really calorie-dense)
• Chili peppers
• Vanilla
• Llamas (not in diet anymore; used for work and wool)
• Muscovy ducks
• Guinea pigs

Imports:

• Spices
• Sugar Cane
• Fruits (banana, citrus
• Cows
• Pigs
• Chicken
• Seafood

Soup! Soup! and more Soup!

• Why? inexpensive, simmer-cooking, flexible
• Not much pretty food.
• Anti-pretentious, not many formal dining places

Regional variation:

• Highlands: pork, chicken, beef, cuy (guinea pig); starches
• Coastal: seafood, ceviche (seafood salsa); more variety
• Amazon: Cassava and tropical fruits

Meal Structure

3 meals a day:

• Breakfast (light and simple) of eggs, potatoes, rice, fruit, toast, corn tortillas
• Lunch (largest meal of day): 3 courses of soup, meat with starch, dessert with coffee or teas
• Snacks of empanadas, humitas, llapingatos, hornados (roasted pig; "whack you off a chunk"), mote
• Dinner is like lunch, but lighter
• Aji, spicy pepper condiment, is the Ecuadorian ketchup

Rural Ecuador

Economics significantly influences diet (usually global)

granos ("grains"); synonymous with health and nutrition

• Maize
• quinoa
• beans
• potatoes
• squashes

Cuy

Guinea pigs: neither from Guinea nor a pig. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Named after the sound they make

• Originally domesticated for meat (as early as 5000 BC)
• More economical than large livestock and reproduce rather quickly
• Reasonably nutritious (similar to rabbit or dark meat chicken

Catholicism

Last supper depicted with cuy, Judas is Pizzaro

Spanish brought it with them:

• Used to eating wheat, grapes/wine, and olives/oil
• Adjusted well to seafood

Important Catholic Holidays

• All Souls Day
• Day of the Dead (especially important to the Quichua / indigenous people)

Fanesca

• Only eaten week before Easter
• Made with
  • Milk
  • Salt Cod
  • Pumpkin
  • Corn
  • 12 kinds of beans and grains (apostles)
  • topped with plantains, empanadas, queso fresco, hard boiled eggs

Assimilation

Resistance is futile

Lots of borrowing from other countries

Hats:

• Felt hats in Fedora style (Spanish) worn by everyone
• Panama hats come from Ecuador