Friday, June 10, 2005

Don´t try these at home

You may have noticed that there are not too many Ecuadorian restaurants to be found outside of Ecuador. There´s probably a good reason for this. Take Caldo de platos for example (cow hoof soup). This very unique dish is a local favourite and is available in most markets around the country. Apparently it is very delicious. Given the choice I would probably opt for Yaguarlocro instead. (Potato soup with chunks of barely congealed blood sausage). One Drink slash food we have been getting with our family a bit too regularly is Colada, a warm substance made with fruit juice, oats and sometimes milk. It´s what one might call an acquired taste. We can´t complain though at least they havent served up allullas yet. (dry biscuits made of flour, pork fat and local unpasteurised cheese. One delicasy I have tried was lengua or cows tongue. This was actually done without my knowledge when my previous family tricked me into eating it pretending it was pork. Oh yes we all had a huge laugh, me excepted. Of course there is cuy (guinea pig), very big on Friday nights after work and of course the national dish Cerviche (raw fish served with lemon, popcorn and sliced onions). I havent even touched on delicious snacks like pork ear or shish kebabs of grilled beef hearts.
Not that I´m knocking the food here. Actually I havent been sick once and generally we have had reasonably tasty if somewhat stodgy meals. In fact I´ve even put on a few kilos. Luckily I´m at the equator where you´re weight actually decreases 3 kilos when you step on the scales. Strange but true. mmm time for some fried pig intestines.

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