Ecuador Gastronomy Museum

The Museum of the Gastronomy of Cuenca is located in the north exit of the city of Cuenca, in a rural zone but with an accelerated urban development, known as Chaullabamba, aboriginal word that translated means "plain of the fishes".

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In the museum, the history of the region's cuisine is told, and traditional and typical Andean dishes, fused with international cuisine, can also be eaten. It was founded in April 2019 in the country house of the Urgilés-Cueva family, owners and administrators of the enterprise. The culinary knowledge within the interactive museum, its activity and history are intimately related to tourism and being aware of this aspect the couple Miguel Urgilés and Karen Cueva, who is also a chef, decided to open the Museum.

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Whoever decides to live this experience will find 2,000 kitchen utensils in the rooms of the house, which were once used by families in the past. The welcome ritual is with a glass of chicha de jora (a drink made of corn and inherited from the Incas) or with the "grandmother's drink" or aromatic water (an infusion made with herbs of the region). A tour of the Museum takes an estimated three hours, which includes the projection of a video and a lot of information about food production, the use of agricultural tools, the sowing-harvesting process and cooking.

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The collection is organized to celebrate the fusion of the Cañari, Inca and Spanish cultures, which give identity to the current mestizo culture. Visitors have direct contact with each piece in the exhibition, they can touch them, feel them, experience how they were used or what they were used for. A very special room is the "Sala del Uchu" or chili pepper in Kichwa, a native American plant with more than 40 species. The development of the Andean culture is related to the chili. Here the visitor can grind it or "chancar". Another experience is to break "toctes", local fruits similar to nuts.

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Once the palate and appetite are stimulated in such a visual way, the next step is to go to the restaurant of the place, with a kitchen open to the public so that everyone can see how the food is prepared: chicken soup, chicken, pork, llapingachos (potato tortilla), mote (cooked ripe corn), rice, grains, beef, menestra. There are dozens of options with suggestive names.

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These services are complemented by "El Mercadito", a representation of a traditional market where local farmers sell organic products, a craft shop and an adobe (traditional building material based on clay) stove to learn about cooking food in clay pots and wood oven.