Has anyone noticed that there is essentially NO processed food here? I knew that going to the market is part of the culture when we were coming here. Experiencing the market has been really neat. It’s like the West Side Market every day, but the indigenous women sit and prepare the food while they mind their stalls. For example, they might be shucking corn. They sell the ears of corn, the ears of corn peeled, and the kernels of corn already taken off the cob! The produce is all fresh obviously, but what about everything else? The only processed products I’ve seen are milk, yogurt, marmalade, butter, crackers, cookies, pop, and junk food. The small "tiendas", or stores, sell potato chips, snack food, candy, and pop. The only brands with pre-packaged food or goods are big brand names, and only a few. The only types of soda pop are Coca-Cola™ and Fanta™ (which may be a Coke product, I'm not sure). It is nearly impossible to find Pepsi™, just ask Dr. Kovach!
The scarcity of processed foods in my home-stay house makes me think about how we have everything overly processed in the United States. Twinkies are the best example I can come up with, they are edible for years! Is it because we have mysophobia (fear of germs), a fear of poor nutritional value, or is it because we are too “busy” to deal with fresh food? It seems no matter how “busy” they are here, meals are made from scratch or leftovers, and the whole family sits down to eat. Somewhere along the way we lost that value in our march of progress. Ecuador is still a "developing nation" in the eyes of the world, but some things perhaps should be kept the way they are. In the United States we need everything packaged, portable, an easy to use or make. Meals are rarely cooked from scratch, and even rarer still, cooked from local produce. I know this does exist since I grew up in a rural area, and was taught to cook from scratch and grow produce! To many this may seem a bit strange, and that is exactly what I mean. The acculturation in the U.S. includes learning a "life on the go". The cultural difference in this aspect of life is definitely striking!
The scarcity of processed foods in my home-stay house makes me think about how we have everything overly processed in the United States. Twinkies are the best example I can come up with, they are edible for years! Is it because we have mysophobia (fear of germs), a fear of poor nutritional value, or is it because we are too “busy” to deal with fresh food? It seems no matter how “busy” they are here, meals are made from scratch or leftovers, and the whole family sits down to eat. Somewhere along the way we lost that value in our march of progress. Ecuador is still a "developing nation" in the eyes of the world, but some things perhaps should be kept the way they are. In the United States we need everything packaged, portable, an easy to use or make. Meals are rarely cooked from scratch, and even rarer still, cooked from local produce. I know this does exist since I grew up in a rural area, and was taught to cook from scratch and grow produce! To many this may seem a bit strange, and that is exactly what I mean. The acculturation in the U.S. includes learning a "life on the go". The cultural difference in this aspect of life is definitely striking!
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