Posts:
Editor's note: This is Part II of Michelle Bakeman's three-part series about maize, or corn. In Part 1 we trace the genetic and cultural evolution of maize in Mesoamerica. Today we trace the evolution of maize all the way back to the Old World. We learn how maize...
Author's note: This is the second of three columns on fruits and vegetables. The first column covered the truths and myths about 'juicing', and the third will offer top tips for minimizing possible exposure to synthetic pesticides on fruits and vegetables. According...
He’s a joker, he protects. He dances with his small “look-alike” guaga, moving through the crowd with both grace and abandon. He steals your hat and wears it for a minute before sailing it back to you. He grabs your girlfriend and kisses her as you stand by...
When it comes to food safety, there are some things we can control, and others we can’t. As reported by the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, health experts agree that North Americans (and by extension, all people who consume the typical SAD diet (the Standard...
Editor's note: Michelle Bakeman's series on Foods of the Americas continues with three columns about maize (corn), which, like the potato, is forever entwined in the Americas' history and culture. Maize A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the...
By Susan Burke March Why is Dietitian spelled with a two t's and not a c? Today's column is about Registered Dietitian Nutritionists. I am a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, (AND) formerly known as the American Dietetic Association. Sylvia...
The original North American Thanksgiving took place in 1621 and was a harvest celebration shared by the Pilgrims and Wampanoag natives at Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. The feast lasted three days and nights, by most accounts included wild turkey, but more likely a...
Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a multi-part series on Conscious Living and Conscious Dying. Click to read part 1, part 2 and part 3. By Louis Bourgeois It is an amazing thing when we die, or enter a state of enlightenment before we die. Many might believe that...
Editor’s note: This is the third in a series on notable ingredients native to the Americas. In Part 1 we learned that archaeologists have discovered potato remains that date back to 500 B.C.E. in the ancient ruins of Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Part 2 traced the journey...
Along with carbohydrates and fats, protein is a necessary nutrient, instrumental in building, maintaining, and repairing body tissues. A protein’s quality is determined by the content of nine essential amino acids, “essential” meaning that they can only be obtained...
Cuenca Days are the most exciting and lively time of year in our adopted city. Cuenca's independence from Spain is celebrated on November 3, and the weather is typically fine — perfect for strolling around El Centro and enjoying artists, musicians, and dance. Of...
Editor’s note: This is the third in a multi-part series on Conscious Living and Conscious Dying. Click to read part 1 and part 2. By Louis Bourgious We discussed in past segments of this series the first two "Faces of Freedom," these being Freedom from The Past and...
Scuffling Footsteps My feet scuff quiet, quite unnoticed, amongst the white stones, pale light ghosting. Not sun of day, nor moon of night, between perhaps, I’m filled with fright. Time elusive, not mine to count, waste not a drop, close tight the spout. Shadows...
Editor’s note: This is the second in a series on notable ingredients native to the Americas. In Part 1 we learned that archaeologists have discovered potato remains that date back to 500 B.C.E. in the ancient ruins of Peru and Chile. Today's column traces the journey...
As a certified introvert living alone for the past 20 years I have read a lot of books, even more after moving to Cuenca seven years ago and buying a Kindle. It is so nice to see a title, want it, and within a minute or two, have it. I have quite often read a book...
By Christine Stirparo The other day I was reading an interview with Mark Schatzker, the author of The Dorito Effect. Now full disclosure, I haven’t read his book or any reviews or even a synopsis of it so I can’t speak to what he talks about in the book. But I did...
Editor’s note: This is the second of a multi-part series on Conscious Living and Conscious Dying. By Louis Bourgeois The first "Face of Freedom" that we discussed in part 2 of this series is freedom from the past. We go a little deeper here in what could be called...
Author’s note: This is the first of three columns on vegetables and fruits. In the first column, I tackle the popular “juicing” fad. The second tackles the perennial question — what is the best way to consume produce — raw or cooked?The third column reviews what you...
I landed on the shores of what is now Ecuador with Francisco Pizzaro and Hernando DeSoto in 1532. At that time, I was twenty-two years old and hoping to gain fame and great wealth. I believed by accompanying these men and the other soldiers into the interior of the...
Editor's note: This is the first in a series on notable ingredients native to the Americas that today are influential and essential in cuisines around the world. By Michelle Bakeman I was born in Richmond, Virginia. My father is from Buffalo, New York, and my mother...
Week of August 23
Ecuador’s economy grew 2% during the first half of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to new Banco Central del Ecuador data.
Cuenca gets a prime view of next week’s deep partial lunar eclipse.
Ecuador’s economy grows 2% in the first half of 2026.
