Food Tourism: Ecuador (How Organic Chocolate is Made)

Ceviche is a cold seafood dish that is popular in South America. The Ecuadorian version is made with shrimp (or other fresh seafood), tomato sauce and lemon juice. In other countries, the seafood is marinated (but not cooked), so I would worry about getting parasites (寄生蟲), but in Ecuador they first cook the shrimp (Whew!), so parasites are not a problem here.

Ecuadorian ceviche, made of shrimp, lemon and tomato sauce, Ceviche ecuatoriano, hecho con camarón, limón y salsa de tomate, CC--BY Rinaldo Wurglitsch

When traveling, some people like to take a few cooking lessons taught by local people. Look at how much fun these students are having!


NatGeo Students Making Empanadas, Quilombitos, and Patacones in Mindo, Ecuador from James Bernal on Vimeo.

Enjoying, learning about and maybe even making tasty food in a new country: Isn't this better than traveling just to buy a Gucci handbag or other expensive items that you can also buy in a big city store?

What about picture taking (not the same as photography)? Are silly, out of focus pictures of you and your friends standing in front of the Eiffel Tower really worthwhile? Tens of thousands of other people have taken exactly the same pictures of famous landmarks before you.

If it was up to me, I would much prefer to bring a small taste of Ecuador back home with me! This is what food tourism (also called culinary tourism or gastronomic tourism) is about. More information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culinary_tourism

In the National Geographic video, the students make empanadas and eat them. Empanadas are a very popular food in Peru. The word Empanadas is very easy to understand if you know word roots: em = "in" and pan = "bread." Check my earlier blog post for more details: http://cute-geography.blogspot.com/2015/05/taiwanese-phang-is-from-latin.html

Mexico is the home of chocolate, but Ecuador is the source of very tasty organic chocolate. Be a good tourist. Try local products whenever you can!

Below are three videos that show how organic chocolate is made. Cacao is a rather curious fruit that grows directly on the tree trunk. The cacao beans are removed from inside and allowed to ferment. Wikipedia gives us more details
English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate
Chinese: http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/%E5%B7%A7%E5%85%8B%E5%8A%9B
but watching videos is much more exciting (I'd like to go see cacao trees and taste the seeds myself)!


Where Does Chocolate Come From? Journey to Ecuador with Nova Monda and Hunt Cacao! from Nova Monda Caco & Chocolate on Vimeo.

Two more videos appear below (processing and production for organic chocolate)



Chocolate Processing: Travel to Ecuador and Learn About Chocolate Processing from Nova Monda Caco & Chocolate on Vimeo.


Healthy Chocolate: Watch Nova Monda Create Pure Healthy Chocolate from Nova Monda Caco & Chocolate on Vimeo.