The Coast: Ecuador’s Pacific kitchen

Spanish name

La Costa

Cities

Guayaquil, Manta, Esmeraldas

Staples

Plantain, seafood, peanut, coconut

Climate

Warm all year

Plantain in every form

On the coast, green plantain does the job bread and potatoes do elsewhere. It is sliced thin and fried into chifles, flattened and fried twice into patacones, mashed into bolón, or grated with peanut and fish into the fritters called corviche. Ripe plantain, maduro, is fried until caramelised and served with almost any main course.

The coastal breakfast is the region’s great meal. Stalls in Guayaquil and Manta open early with bolón and coffee, and with bowls of encebollado for anyone who had a long night.

The dishes to know

• EncebolladoTuna and yuca broth topped with pickled red onion.
• Bolón de verdeGreen plantain mashed with cheese or pork and fried into a ball.
• Ceviche de camarónEcuador’s prawn ceviche, and how it differs from Peru’s.

Three coasts in one

Manabí, in the middle, is the province Ecuadorians credit with the country’s best food, much of it built on peanut. It is also home to Montecristi, where the finest toquilla straw hats are woven by hand, a craft UNESCO lists as intangible cultural heritage. Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, is the home of encebollado and arroz con menestra, rice with stewed beans or lentils and grilled meat. In the north, Afro-Ecuadorian Esmeraldas cooks with coconut: encocado, fish or prawns stewed in coconut milk, is its signature.

The hat that isn’t from Panama

The “Panama hat” has always been Ecuadorian. It took the name in the nineteenth century, when hats were shipped through Panama and worn by the workers building the canal. A fine Montecristi hat can take months to weave. They make the best gift from Ecuador, and the best souvenir of a coastal trip.