Heard of aji and kori?

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: “We are a banana Republic.” Well, that’s what Gonzalo Davila Trueba, from the distant land of Ecuador, says gleefully. Chef Trueba, who hails from the capital city of Quito, points out that with many varieties of bananas, the fruit is consumed in many ways. Chef, who is visiting India for the second consecutive year, is confident that Indians will take to the cuisine, a cousin of the cuisine that is vowing global palates, Peruvian. Hosting guests at Delhi’s Maurya and then Mumbai’s Grand Central, he says there is a lot on offer in the cuisine, even if guinea pigs are on the menu.

Though Ecuador is a small country, we have huge diversity in our food. The country is made of three very distinct geographical regions—the hot Pacific coastal region, the cold Andean mountainous zone in the centre of the country and the humid Amazon forests in the east. Before the Spanish conquest, people had potatoes, corn, chilli and avocado. The Spanish introduced their cuisine, and the result was a fusion we see today. Corn, potatoes and bananas form staples. Pork is the absolute favourite, though lamb, beef as well as rabbits and guinea pigs (yes, those cuddly creatures, locally called cuy) are also popular. You could also get more exotic dishes, such as bulls testicles or anticuchos, the heart of a cow. There are 25 varieties of corn, and 200 ways of preparing it.

Given that the warm El Nino and the cold Humboldt Current meet off the coast, the waters teems in a rich variety of seafood. The most famous of Ecuadorian seafood preparations is the cebiche. A seafood dish marinated in lemon and onions, it can be found in most preparations. Consumed mainly as a marinated appetiser, it is Ecuador’s most popular export and is usually accompanied by popcorn, corn nuts and fried bananas. Lobster, prawn, crab, mussel, shrimp, oyster, mollusc, clams, besides fish—red snapper, cod, sea bass, surgeonfish and grouper, there’s a lot of seafood waiting to be sampled.

Our food is largely non spicy. However, for those who prefer, there is an ubiquitous accompaniment to the cuisine, aji, is a kind of chilli sauce. A cereal-like crop that might well be the future of humankind is the quinoa, which is being recognised as an ‘unusually complete protein source’, given that its protein content is very high, about 12-18%.