ECUADOR: Arroz con pollo

A bit about the food and drink in Ecuador.

FRUITS AND JUICES - sensational, and such a broad range. Mora (blackberry), papaya, naranjilla (a small, ultra-juicy orange), taxo and grenadilla (a bit like pomegranites in that they´re hard shells full of many seeds, suck from husk, gorgeous), pina (pineapple), naranja, four different types of banana including a red one, watermelon, lima, maracuyá (passion fruit)....all really good, fresh and cheap.

The fruit juices are freshly made, often with added sugar, sometimes with the raw white of an egg to make em frothy. This is a poor country, but the juices are readily available, everyone drinks them, they´re tasty, healthy and cheap. You can also get these as batidos (milkshakes) which are equally good.

SET MEALS - desayunos (breakfasts) and almeurzos (lunches) cost about $1-$1.50 and are, broadly speaking, a cheese sandwich or bun; coffee (usually Nescafe); a fresh fruit juice; and the main dish, rice with fried chicken, or rice with fried ´meat´. It´s not great, but it´s bloody cheap and fills a hole. Sometimes you´ll have a soup dish with lunch as well, I´ve seen plenty of menus offering sopa de patas, chicken-feet soup.

Meriendas (evening meals) could be llapangachas (stuffed potatoes with sausages, or chicken), or cuy (guinea pig), with roast tomate de arbol (a type of sour tomato, much better cooked than raw or juiced). I haven´t eaten many Ecuadorian dinners here so I can´t do this section justice.

SEAFOOD - the best thing to eat here, by some distance, is ceviche, raw fish or cooked shellfish, served in a cold broth of tomatoes, onions, lemon juice, a stinging hot aji (chilli sauce), popcorn and banana chips. I wasn´t looking forward to it but it´s gorgeous. The best one I had was also the cheapest, served up during a Gran Colombia food festival in Quito´s downtown market, at which we ate some figs, cheeses, little fried potato cakes, all fantastic stuff.

STREET FOOD - loads of different stuff, dried banana chips, crisps, really good fresh fruit helados (ice creams), chocolate, empanadas (pasties, with banana, or cheese), loads of corn on the cob. The buses always stop and let food sellers on, and it´s too often far too tempting. These guys charge $0.25 for an ice cream or small snack, $0.50 for something filling.

INTERNATIONAL - there are loads of places offering international food as well, certainly in the big towns. Many hostels have cafés and restaurants and these are the places to eat Italian, German, Mexican, sushi....anything you fancy. The best pizza I´ve had was at New York´s, in Cuenca, where the smallest pizza on the menu was the size of a truck wheel. All fresh and oozing.