Ecuador’s Amazing Almuerzos
‘Almuerzo’ is the Spanish word for ‘lunch’.
In Ecuador at lunch time, dozens of local restaurants serve a ‘menu del dia’ during ‘almuerzo’ time, usually from about noon until 2 or 3 pm.
These huge lunch sets include a large glass of freshly-squeezed fruit juice, a big bowl of homemade soup and a main course called ‘secundo’ (second course). It generally consists of beef, pork, chicken or fish, plus rice and/or potatoes, plus some sort of small salad or fried plantains. Some places also include a tiny dessert, such as a few slices of fruit.
Almuerzos are always really healthy, well-rounded meals, what with the fresh juices, homemade soups with lots of fresh vegetables & carbs, meat or fish and at least one or two grains / root veggies.
Every day restaurants change each item in their set lunches. So it’s possible to eat at the same restaurant day after day but enjoy a different fresh juice, soup and main course.
The Fresh Juices
A huge variety of freshly-made juices are served during almuerzos. They include common juices such as pineapple, watermelon and lemonade, but more often are made of delicious tropical fruits that are less-known to Americans & Europeans.
Popular fresh juices are passionfruit, guava, soursop, tamarind, blackberry, and a smoothies-type juice made of oats and passionfruit.
The delicious chilled juices really hit the spot in the middle of the day, especially in hot places like the Galapagos and coastal beach towns. But they’re really refreshing anywhere in Ecuador, even in cold mountain areas and high-elevation cities.
As if that weren’t great enough, the juices are served to guests in unlimited portions! You can drink as much as you want.
The Homemade Soups
Ecuadorians are superb soup makers!
They seem to make an unlimited assortment of soups around the country, including several standard ones like chicken soup, some well-known particularly-Ecuadorian soups, and creamed vegetable soups. And each restaurant has their own particular versions of each.
The soups are always freshly made that day, chocked full of healthy ingredients, and really delicious.
I’ve enjoyed cream of spinach, cream of pumpkin and creamed vegetable soups. I’ve eaten clear-brothed chicken soups with chunks of vegetables.
I’ve been served fish soups, shrimp soups, hearty beef stews and several very unusual (to me) Ecuadorian specialty soups.
Interesting Ecuadorian soups tend to be rather hearty broths and have a unique mix of chunks of yukka, cassava, pata (like giant grains of corn) and potatoes. Sometimes there’s a piece of corn on the cob or rice or pasta or various beans.
Some Ecuadorian soups consist of a thick broth, like a chowder or stew. Others have clear broth. There are pasta soups, with little bow-tie pastas or short spaghetti pieces. These often also have pieces of yukka, potatoes and/or pata.
Two famous Ecuadorian soups that are commonly served are Encebollada and Locra de Papa.
Encebollada is a stew-like fish soup with lots of onions (cebolla means onion), chunks of yukka, pata, potatoes, veggies and lots of spices. Locra de Papa is a creamy soup Math potatoes, cheese, spices and a slice of avocado on top. Another Ecuadorian stew-like soup has a big chunk of beef on bone, veggies and potatoes and yukka.
Most restaurants offer a choice of two or three soups each day, though some smaller restaurants only offer one soup and one main course per day.
Soup portions vary from place to place, but are usually a whopping big bowl of soup.
For me, just drinking the fresh juice and eating the giant bowl of hearty soup makes a complete meal. I generally can’t even start on the main course. So I take it home for dinner! I get two meals in one.
Secundos
The main courses also vary from day to day. Bigger restaurants generally offer a choice of two, three or even five to six main courses each day.
Not only do the choice of meats vary, but the way in which they’re cooked changed from day to day as well.
Chicken and fish might be offered deep-fried, grilled, baked or in some sort of tasty sauce. Beef and pork are also cooked in these styles, except not deep-fried.
Sometimes shrimp or ceviche (raw fish) are on offer with almuerzos. In some parts of Ecuador, beef intestines are really popular.
All of these mains are usually served with white rice. But sometimes they’re served with baked potatoes or french fries, sometimes both rice and potatoes. Often a large serving of dark beans is added.
Usually a small fresh salad or slice of avocado or pieces of sweet fried plantain are included as well.
Price of Almuerzos
The standard price for this huge set meal, all over Ecuador, is $2.50 US. That’s it!
But prices do vary a bit from restaurant to restaurant and town to town. A range of $2.25 – $3.00 is common in most places. I’ve also seen almuerzos for as cheap as $1.75 US.
More posh restaurants might charge $4-7 US for their daily set meals. And in Galapagos, almuerzos cost $5 US just about everywhere. They are double price from the mainland, but still a great deal.
My almuerzos experience
I was so smitten with Ecuador’s almuerzos that I ate them almost every day during my 3-month travels around the country.
I started my Ecuador journey in Galapagos, where almuerzos cost $5 US.
I immediately discovered that the meals are so huge that I could only eat half for lunch. I took the other half home for dinner. I got in the habit of taking a couple plastic containers along with me to pack up my remaining food.
That meant I only had to buy one meal per day to feed myself (besides breakfast, of course). It also meant that I could eat for little more than $5 US per day. Nice!
When I began traveling around mainland Ecuador, I was amazed and delighted to discover that the same huge, nutritious almuerzos cost just $2.50 US. In fact, mainland set lunches often include even larger portions.
Almuerzos really helped keep my travel budget low in Ecuador. They also provided me with daily healthy, nutritious and varied meals.
In addition, almuerzos meant that I rarely had to cook nor buy many groceries, which also saved a lot of time and hassle.
Almuerzos in Colombia
Just a few days ago I arrived in Bogota, Colombia. I was very happy to discover that almuerzos are also served here. Yeah!
I have not eaten many set lunches here yet, but I do know that they are very similar to almuerzos in Ecuador. They include unlimited fresh juice, a bowl of soup and a main course with meat/fish and rice, a side salad and some fried plantain.
Rather amazingly, the price is also exactly the same for almuerzos in Colombia- $2.50 US! Actually, in Colombia the currency is the Colombian peso. Almuerzos here cost about 10,000 pesos = $2.50 US.
Thus far, I’ve had delicious lemonade with mint pieces (like a non-alcoholic mojito), a large bowl of creamy vegetable, really delicious grilled meat and tasty, flavored white rice.
Based on my limited almuerzos’ experiences here in Colombia, I’d venture to say that the Ecuadorians trump them on soups but the Colombians make fabulous grilled meats.
Let’s see what other tasty almuerzos I find to eat here. I’ll keep you all posted…
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Meanwhile, you might also like:
8 Surprising Facts about Ecuador
Introduction to Amazing Baños – Ecuador
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Hi! I'm Lash, an American nomadic world traveler who's been traveling solo since 1998. I’m passionate about traveling the world nomadically and then sharing it all with you. I hope to inspire you to travel the world, to entertain you with tales from the road, and to help you reach your travel dreams. Welcome! 
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