"PAMPAMESA"

                    

THE PAMPA MESA FEEDS THE UNION OF THE COMMUNITIES

  The indigenous peoples of the country, particularly the Saraguros, in Loja, use the term ‘pampamesa’ or ‘pambamesa’ to refer to the food that is offered at mass events and ancestral festivities, also in mingas and even marches. This is one of their ancestral traditions called the ‘common table’ or the ‘table of all’.

  An ancestral celebration with a community meal held in the countryside. This is how the ‘pampa table’ can be defined, which means everyone's food. This is an activity, type picnic, in which a cloth is spread and each person in the community brings something to eat and shares with the rest.

Diversity is the main ingredient in this practice that is still maintained in some provinces of the Ecuadorian Sierra.

It is not a secret that one of the attractions of Ecuador is its cultural identity and this is reflected in its gastronomy. Ingredients such as corn, pork, cuy (guinea pig), grains and potatoes are fused together in dishes that evoke indigenous customs.

In a town in the parish of Tarqui (Cuenca), the women, who wear velvet skirts embroidered with golden threads and toquilla straw hats, cook on firewood. They -without haste-, wash, peel, cut, season and, in huge pots, prepare broad beans, mote, beans, guinea pig, among other delicacies to share on the ‘pampa table’.