The Diplomat
The largest Ecuadorian gastronomy group in Spain, Perla del Pacífico, in collaboration with the Embassy of Ecuador, revived one of the most important traditions of the Ecuadorian Andes, through which families remember their loved ones on the Day of the Dead with the preparation and tasting of the colada morada and the guaguas de pan.
Through a show cooking held in the Pearl of the Pacific of Ascao, chef Miguel Monar took the attendees on a historical journey to the pre-Columbian civilizations of the Inca empire that in the eleventh month of the year celebrated the festival called ‘Aya Marcay Quilla’, Kichwa word meaning ‘time to bring the dead’.
As the name suggests, this festival consisted of taking the remains of their ancestors and carrying them in procession through the squares. At the end of the tour they were placed back in their graves with various offerings and they took a deep purple drink made from purple corn that represented the link to their ancestors.
The chef explained that, at present, purple colada is prepared with 24 ingredients, including: dried species, panela or sugar, izhpingo, sweet pepper, cinnamon, cloves, sangoracha, cornstarch, flour, blackberry, mortiño, naranjilla and other exotic fruits, that were implemented by the mestizos with cunning so that this holiday would last in time after the Christianization of native peoples.
During the show cooking, a group of children of Ecuadorian origin born in Spain were able to make their own bread guagua in a playful activity that showed the ability of this ancient tradition to connect generations and reflect the cultural bond between Ecuador and Spain.
After the preparation and in a very familiar atmosphere, the attendees shared a social space where they tasted the purple laundry and the bread guaguas with the projection of videos about landscapes of the Andes region.
