I was traveling in the jungle region of Ecuador, in Zamora Chinchipe near the border to Peru in the south of the country. I learned about new culinary traditions, like a green banana soup with lemon and cheese called Repe — very tasty by the way — or the “cesinas”, dried pork meat that is grilled afterwards making for a very delicious flavor. And there is a lot more to eat in this region: monkeys, big snakes, strange fish, exotic plants, ants, and other creatures are part of the daily menu.
I was surprised to see these beverages and stopped to find out more. They make different types of alcohol, some of them made with a variety of animal sex organs, which are meant to give man a “better performance”; others like the ones in the picture above have snakes inside and are supposed to be good for the kidneys. I tried a couple and found them interesting, although I was also aware that these beverages are 90% alcohol and just a few sips can cause drunkenness very fast.
Rodrigo Pacheco is a top-notch Ecuadorian chef who bases half his time in Quito and the other half in Banos, where he prepares meals made from fresh organic ingredients at Casa del Abuelo Art Hotel & Restaurant. He is also the executive chef at Cuisine Standard in Quito.
He has studied with some of the best, including Madrid Fusión in Spain, Alain Ducasse Formation in Paris, the Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France, and the Instituto Inacap in Santiago, Chile among others.
He has done a Government Cultural Exchange in Canada and the Masters of Food and Wine tour of the world in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
representing Ecuador as an invited chef. Rodrigo was also a Culinary radio show host on Saberes y Sabores.
