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Ecuadorian Food History

Historical period

Coastal VALDIVIA, Machalilla, Chorrera and Manteño societies — among the earliest ceramic-making cultures in the Americas — with maize, seafood and the SPONDYLUS shell traded the length of the Pacific coast as a ritual good; the Mayo-Chinchipe cacao evidence in the upper Amazon; highland Kañari, Puruhá and Kitu polities; INCA conquest late in the fifteenth century, bringing terracing, the mit’a, and Quito as a northern capital, and ending in the civil war between Atahualpa and Huáscar; Spanish conquest from 1534, with wheat, cattle, pigs, chickens, sugar, onion and garlic, and the obraje textile economy; the CACAO boom of 1880-1920 and the BANANA boom from 1948; the OIL economy from 1972 and the Amazonian roads it cut; dollarisation and mass emigration after the 1999 banking collapse; and the culinary revival since the 2000s.

Atlas — where and when

What is recorded

  • The Ecuadorian coast supported some of the earliest ceramic-making societies in the Americas, including Valdivia, and Spondylus shell was traded from these waters along the Pacific coast as a ritual good over long distances. Inca incorporation of the northern Andes occurred late in the fifteenth century and ended in a civil war between Atahualpa and Huáscar immediately before the Spanish arrival. documented
  • The Valdivia culture of the Ecuadorian coast, among the earliest ceramic-making societies in the Americas, with maize and marine foods. documented
  • Inca incorporation of the northern Andes and the establishment of Quito as a northern capital, bringing terracing and the mit’a labour system; it ends in the civil war between Atahualpa and Huáscar. documented
  • Spanish conquest and settlement, introducing wheat, cattle, pigs, chickens, sugar, onion and garlic, and the obraje textile economy. documented

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.