How Ecuador's Delicious Food Scene Unlocks the Country's Secrets

22.06.2024 - 13:53 / cntraveler.com / Calvin Klein / Juliet Kinsman

How to Travel Better is a column with Condé Nast Traveler’s sustainability editor Juliet Kinsman. In this series, Juliet introduces us to the sustainability heroes she meets, signposts the experiences that are enhancing our world, and shares the little and big ways we can all travel better.

“Everything is bigger in South America,” smiles Fernando Polanco, the owner of Hacienda Zuleta, as he wields an eye-wateringly large star fruit. We're on his family's 17th-century, 4,500-acre working dairy farm and ranch. Zuleta, which is two hours north of Quito, has a big history, a huge heart, and charming accommodations. A great example of the positive, trickle-down impact that tourism can have, Fernando explains to me that his ancestors were among the first to give deeds back to the people, gifting slopes along with titles.

Ecuador's Amazon rainforest is exceptionally rich in biodiversity.

“Sustainability has always been our way of life and showing responsibility for our community,” Fernando explains over feather-light crispy cassava waffles and a spread of award-winning hard cheeses from their Holstein cows. “When my grandfather Galo Plaza Lasso was President of Ecuador… he changed society. My grandparents were agents of positive change, too—long before regeneration was a buzzword.” Our perfect breakfast, in the corner of his family home that once acted as a classroom for local children is a case study for the impact that ‘sensitive luxury’ can have on a community. Framed lace and embroidered linens are an ode to his grandmother introducing what is now a signature skill to the village Zuleta sits within.

It’s my tastebuds, in particular, which make me thankful for my time in Ecuador. There’s a cornucopia of reasons why fruit and vegetables grown on this South American country’s high-altitude slopes are fuller in flavor. Roque Sevilla, economist, environmentalist, and chairman of Metropolitan Touring, explains the ecological secrets to those unforgettable flavors at another breakfast in the historic Hotel Casa Gangotena. Put simply: the soils along this volcanic Andean belt work alchemy, partly thanks to this part of the world’s ‘eternal spring’. Not a Calvin Klein perfume, but a nickname for how the climate found here is optimal for growing.

Fruit and vegetables grown on this South American country’s high-altitude slopes are fuller in flavor.

The all-sensory-smacking fruit and veggies are extra special here, Roque points out, “due to the dramatic temperature drops at night, which fixes the fragrances and colors.” Ecuador has been one of the largest producers of bananas since the ’50s. The special conditions also explain the world-leading caliber of their roses. Everywhere you turn in this city, you see