Cuisine

by Susan Schenck Cacao (chocolate in its pure form) may be one of the planet’s greatest sources of nutrition. As state in my book, The Live Food Factor, “It’s high in magnesium, making it a powerful brain food and natural laxative. Ten percent of its contents are antioxidants, making it a leading longevity food. Research...

by Susan Schenck What is a health-conscious, primarily raw fooder to do when hunger strikes while shopping or running errands downtown? At the risk of creating massive inflation for my favorite Cuencano snack, I’ve decided to share this incredible secret with you. You’ve seen the venders with the carts selling fruits. Well, what I’m about...

by Susan Schenck The raw-food movement is growing fast in the U.S. And there are plenty of reasons for it. Humans are the only animal that cooks food. Cooking began only 20,000 years ago, very recently compared to humankind’s 2.5 million years of existence. This is also when the diseases of civilization began. More recently,...

Mixx isn’t merely a new ice cream shop in a city and country full of ice cream shops. It’s a world-class operation, with a great location on Plaza de San Blas, state-of-the-art equipment, and flavors limited only by the raging imagination of the Canadian proprietor, Tom Carbone. Tom was a successful entrepreneur in Toronto, running...

I've never seen anything like it. At least not without a coupon or a comp or a cook in my own kitchen. El Nuevo Paraiso comes about as close as you can get to a free lunch.   I met Jim Rathjen there who, chatting (or more like shouting over the max-volume TV and the...

Editor’s Note: Deke and Shirlee arrived in Cuenca for the first time on a two-week visit to Ecuador in early March 2010, and Deke promised himself he’d expatriate within a year. After he and Shirlee visited Cuenca for a month in October, Deke went home to Reno committed to keeping the promise, and he returned...

La Vina, serving good hearty Italian for a decade at the corner of Luis Cordero and Juan Jaramillo, is a favorite of gringos. Shirlee and I were there on a Friday night when four parties at the five tables in the front room were Americans. La Vina’s menu is monolingual, though it’s more in Italian...

In our month in Cuenca, Shirlee and I made it a point to visit the four gringo-owned hangouts, along with two locally owned restaurants, one a tradition and the other a hit with gringos.   The first haunt is also the restaurant you should try on your first day in Cuenca. Remember this name: Raymipampa. Raymipampa faces...

We didn’t sample either of the two American fast-food operations in Cuenca: Kentucky Fried Chicken and Domino’s. (Nope: no McDonald’s or Burger King, Taco Bell, or even Starbucks.) I’m not prejudiced; I’ll try both when I go back (Lee at Carolina Bookstore claims Domino’s Ecuador is surprisingly different than stateside and decent), but we had...

The mid-day repast in Cuenca, typical of Latin America, is a big meal and a big deal. It’s long, starting as early as 11:00 and continuing till as late as 4:00, and many shops, stores, offices, and museums close between 1:00 and 3:00 for the leisurely lunch. And you can dine out in a range of restaurants, from no-name...

[Editor's Note: This is the debut restaurant review from Deke Castleman, who spent a month in Cuenca recently and delved deeply into the dining environment. Deke'll be the new food dude at CuencaHighLife, but we encourage anyone and everyone with a dining tip, restaurant review, market story — any Cuenca or Ecuador food experience worth recounting —...

Rosa Martinez used to stroll to the local money transfer office in Corona every week to send $200 to her family in Cuenca. She still goes to the Delgado Travel office, but not to send money. Instead, it is she who collects a little cash from those family members in Cuenca. "My husband used to...