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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Ecuador
Thick soup of tender grains, squash, milk and dried cod, prepared once a year during Holy Week. It is the Lenten dish in homes across Ecuador and combines the Andean harvest tradition with the meat fast of Catholicism.
Traditional dish from Ecuador
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Fanesca — Ecuador
Fanesca is a soup of many grains. It includes fresh corn, fava beans, peas, lupin, beans, lentils, chickpeas and mote (cooked corn), almost always shelled and skinned one by one, plus squashes, sambo and zapallo, which give color and body. Everything cooks in milk, with a sauté of onion, garlic and cumin and a little ground peanut or cheese, until creamy. The dried cod, desalinated and shredded, completes the pot. On top go hard‑boiled egg, fresh cheese, fried ripe plantain, fried dough balls, parsley and hot pepper.
Making it is laborious, and so it is a family task. Shelling and peeling the grains takes days, and many households divide the work among relatives and neighbors. The soup is served mainly on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, at large gatherings, and is usually followed by rice pudding or figs with cheese. Restaurants and markets offer it only in those weeks.
The history combines two traditions. According to information from the Ecuadorian Ministry of Culture and Heritage reported by El Universo, the pre‑Hispanic dish that gave rise to fanesca would be ushucuta, a Kichwa word for tender grains cooked with chili, prepared at harvest time. Holy Week coincides with that harvest in the highlands, and the meat fast brought by the Spaniards made room for dried fish. A popular interpretation links the number of grains to the twelve apostles and the cod to Jesus. The origin of the name is a mystery, and none of the explanations in circulation is conclusive.
Fanesca is strongest in the highlands, from Quito to Cuenca, but it is also prepared on the coast and in the Oriente, by families across the country. Recipes vary from household to household: some substitute another dried fish for the cod, others add shrimp. On the coast, another grain soup, viche, with fresh fish and peanuts, is eaten year‑round.
Ecuador
Fanesca is the Holy Week dish in homes across Ecuador, strongest in the highlands but also prepared on the coast and in the Oriente, with no single city of origin.
Tender grains (fresh corn, fava beans, peas, lupin, beans, lentils, chickpeas, mote), squashes (sambo and zapallo), milk, peanut or cheese, onion, garlic, cumin and dried cod. For garnishing: hard‑boiled egg, fresh cheese, fried ripe plantain, fried dough balls, parsley and hot pepper.
Very hot, in a deep bowl, with the garnishes on top or on the side. Afterwards, many families serve rice pudding or figs with cheese.
Holy Week, especially on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, at family gatherings.
Your questions
During Holy Week, especially on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Outside those weeks, it is hard to find.
The most common are fresh corn, fava beans, peas, lupin, beans, lentils, chickpeas and mote, with squashes. The combination varies from family to family.
Because Holy Week is a time of meat fasting in Catholicism, introduced by the Spaniards. Dried fish replaced meat, and cod became the most used.
According to information from the Ministry of Culture and Heritage reported in the press, it comes from ushucuta, an Andean stew of tender grains with chili prepared at harvest time, which merged with the rules of Catholic Lent.
Flavors of Ecuador
Thick, hot drink made from purple corn flour, fruits and spices, served with guaguas de pan, sweet breads shaped like swaddled babies. It is the Day of the Dead tradition on November 2 throughout Ecuador.
Potato tortillas filled with cheese, golden on the griddle and served with chorizo, fried egg, avocado and salad. It is Ambato’s emblematic dish and the one the Ministry of Tourism designates for Tungurahua.
Dulce de molasses pulled and stretched by hand until it is light and elastic, sold at the doorways of shops in Baños de Agua Santa. It is the city’s signature sweet, linked to the sugarcane fields of the valley.
Elongated, crunchy cookies baked in a wood-fired oven, served with queso de hoja and manjar de leche. They received the Traditional Specialty Guaranteed registration in Ecuador in 2021.
Thick mote soup with pork, chorizo and bacon, thickened with ground pumpkin seed and milk. It’s the dish of Cuenca’s Carnival, prepared in large pots during the festivities.
Mote, cooked white corn, sautéed with egg, onion, achiote and milk, served with fresh cheese and coffee. It is Cuenca’s most typical dish; in 2023 the city requested its registration as a traditional specialty.
Fish or shellfish cooked in coconut milk with a sauté of onion, tomato and bell pepper and the herb chillangua, served with rice and patacones. It is the dish that represents Esmeraldas cuisine.
Fish broth with manioc and red onion pickled in lime, served with chifles, popcorn or bread. The encebollado of Guayaquil was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ecuador in 2024.
Ice cream made from fruit juice beaten by hand in a copper paila that spins over ice and salt, without a machine. It is Ibarra’s sweet tradition, where the recipe’s history is attributed to a family since the late 19th century.
Hearty dish from Latacunga with fried pork, crispy pork skin, mote, potato, fried ripe plantain, empanadas, popcorn and toasted corn, with ají. It is the dish that the Ministry of Tourism’s gastronomic map identifies for Cotopaxi.
Thick fish and seafood soup thickened with ground peanuts, with green plantain, corn and vegetables. It is the dish that represents the traditional cuisine of Manabí, an intangible cultural heritage of Ecuador.
A fermented drink made from seven varieties of corn, slowly cooked and sweetened with panela, which gives its name to the Fiesta del Yamor, Otavalo’s September festival. It is regarded as a drink representative of Otavalo identity.
Thick potato soup with milk and cheese, served with avocado, considered a dish of Quito’s cuisine. It is the dish that the Ministry of Tourism’s gastronomic map designates for the province of Pichincha.
Stewed kid goat marinated in chicha, beer, or naranjilla juice, with cilantro, served with yellow rice, ripe banana and avocado. It is the dish the Ministry of Tourism lists for the province of Santa Elena.
Cooked green banana mashed and mixed with egg and cheese until yellow with white spots, served with coffee. Zaruma’s tigrillo received a cultural recognition certificate in 2020.
