Abstract

VALVERDE, John Milton; VIVA, Diego Gutiérrez; GUAPISACA, Ángel Humberto  and  PUCHA, Maria Villafuerte. Study of the use of coconut in the traditional gastronomy of Esmeraldas, applied to five Ecuadorian recipes. Rev. Inv. Cs. Agro. y Vet. [online]. 2022, vol.6, n.17, pp.270-281.  Epub Nov 27, 2022. ISSN 2664-0902.  https://doi.org/10.33996/revistaalfa.v6i17.167.

Several factors have led to the slow and sometimes imperceptible disappearance of native gastronomy in Ecuador, taking other directions, such as the replacement of healthy and sustainable food by the well-known "fast food". This has caused that native people of the province of Esmeraldas have little knowledge of their ancient food traditions or there is no adequate transmission of this knowledge and the new generations replace them with what is closest to their environment. In this article, we propose the rescue of coconut, an ingredient used in the province of Esmeraldas, through five recipes modified by the authors but that preserve the typical flavor profile of the province, as it is recognized even worldwide by those who have tasted it. Information was collected on the traditional gastronomy of Esmeraldas, as well as a brief review based on general data on the arrival of coconut to this province, then everything related to this tropical fruit was covered, from its harvest to the most relevant applications given to this product in the Esmeraldas gastronomy through direct observation during a three-month stay in some cantons of the green province. Finally, based on reflections derived from the ethnographic study, five proposals were proposed that combine unique and distinctive characteristics of the Afro-Ecuadorian geography and history with the gastronomic vanguard. The proposed menu was evaluated by a panel of experts through a tasting guided by an acceptance test and then presented to the communities involved in this study.

Keywords : Gastronomy; Tradition; Coconut; Author's recipes.

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