Most Ecuadorians serve a traditional three course meal replete with soup, a meat or fish dish with rice and dessert with coffee for lunch, but dinners can be as light as a cup of coffee or herbal tea with baked bread. The meats eaten range from pork and chicken to beef guinea pig (cuy), and these are mainly consumed in the mountains with rice and potatoes.

The coastal areas eat shrimp, prawns and lobsters with plantain and peanuts figuring prominently in the dishes. The coastal meals are mainly two-course ones with soup being the first and rice with meat and salad being the second. Patacones (plaintain fried with cheese) aren’t to be missed either.

In the rainforest, yucca or cassava is a staple food. This root is peeled, boiled or fried and used in a variety of dishes. Many fruits are available in this region, including bananas, tree grapes, and peach palms. In the mountains a dish of great popularity is the fanesca (a fish soup) which is served during Lent and Easter, and the colada morada a fruity beverage served with bread baked in the shape of children. The southern mountain areas serve soups made from bananas, roast pork and dessert.

Thanks in large part to the mainly glorious weather, fresh fruit such as granadilla, passion fruit, bananas, tree tomatoes, sugar cane and the native naranjilla are available in abundance. Alcohol is available freely, with Aguadiente (a sugar cane-based spirit) being the popular national drink. A drinkable yoghurt (in a number of fruit flavours) normally consumed with cheese-filled bread and cheese is also a huge favourite with tourists and natives alike. 

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