Store

Ecuadorian Amazon Foodways

El Oriente

Regional

The six Amazonian provinces — Sucumbíos, Napo, Orellana, Pastaza, Morona Santiago and Zamora Chinchipe — holding roughly half the national territory and a small share of its people. YUCA above all, in the chacra and as CHICHA; plantain; river fish; PALM fruits, above all CHONTA (peach palm) and MORETE (aguaje); forest fruits; the MAITO, food wrapped in bijao or other leaves and grilled over embers; and the CHONTACURO, the palm weevil larva, eaten grilled and genuinely relished rather than performed for tourists. ⚠ NOT ONE CUISINE. Kichwa, Shuar, Achuar, Waorani, Cofán, Siona, Secoya, Sapara, Shiwiar and Andoa peoples live here and do not eat alike.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Amazonian Kichwa community documented
  • Shuar community documented
  • Achuar community documented
  • Waorani community documented
  • Cofán community documented
  • Siona community documented
  • Secoya community documented
  • Sapara community documented

Languages: Spanish, Tena Lowland Quichua, Northern Pastaza Quichua, Shuar, Achuar-Shiwiar, Waorani, Cofán, Siona-Tetete, Secoya, Sapara, Andoa

What is recorded

  • Commercial oil extraction begins in the Oriente, cutting roads into Amazonian territory and beginning the contamination case later brought against Texaco/Chevron. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • related to Amazonian Brazilian Cuisine documented

    Shared basin, shared staples, distinct national and Indigenous traditions.

  • related to Amazonian Peruvian Foodways documented

    One Amazonian food region across the border, with shared peoples, yuca processing and river fisheries.

Recorded as relating to this foodway

  • originates from Ecuadorian Cacao and Chocolate probable

    ⚠ The Mayo-Chinchipe evidence from Santa Ana-La Florida places the earliest known cacao use in the upper Amazon of what is now Ecuador. Recorded as the earliest documented use, not as a settled account of domestication.

Regional cuisines

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.