Enchanted Expeditions Announces Culinary Tours of Ecuador

Programs to Also Examine the Debate Surrounding the "Ethanol Effect"

The Clearing of Tropical Forests Stimulated by the High Price of Corn

QUITO, ECUADOR, June 28, 2011 ˆ Enchanted Expeditions, a leader in Ecuadorian travel http://www.enchantedexpeditions.com/, announces a new program of culinary tours of Ecuador that will engage guests with a diversity of cuisines and at the same time encourage thinking about such world issues as the burning of tropical rainforests due to the „ethanol effect‰ caused by the high world market price for corn.

„This tour provides opportunities to engage with local ethnic groups while observing their traditional cooking styles. We‚ll witness meal preparations and sample centuries-old culinary traditions,‰ said Judy Carvalhal, the founder of Enchanted Expeditions. Guests will also witness major issues facing local farmers in Ecuador and elsewhere in Latin America.

She noted that the butterfly effect of the commodities market (think corn) reverberates to the farmers of Ecuador where in the past it was cheaper for countries like Ecuador to import corn from the US. But after the US Congress passed a mandate on alternative fuels in 2005, farmers in the US have begun to plant more corn for ethanol than for food. This reduction in food supply has caused the price of corn to go up. Poor countries like Ecuador faced food shortages. This has prompted farmers in Ecuador to burn tropical forests for new acreage in which to plant corn. The worldwide destruction of tropical forests now accounts for 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Offered on an independent, open-scheduled basis, gastronomic tours through Ecuador are 9 day / 8 night programs with an optional Galapagos extension.  Rates begin at $1,718 per person double occupancy for two people and dip to $902 per person for nine to 15 guests.  Included are breakfasts, lunches, accommodations, an English speaking guide, private transportation, entrance fees, the domestic flight from Cuenca to Guayaquil and more. See:

http://www.enchantedexpeditions.com/english/special_interest/special_interest.html

The journey begins with historic city and market tours of Quito. In Imbabura province guests sample bizcochos con queso de hoja (biscuits and cheese rolls) in Cayambe, are introduced to the role of the guinea pig in dining history and visit a cheese factory. 

Agricultural enterprises are explored between the Ecuadorian highlands and the coastal area to San Lorenzo. A visit to Pedernales embraces a traditional cebiche manabita (need English for this please) before a stop at the fishing village of Puerto Lopez where breakfast will include bolones de verde (plantain dumplings). On another day after a typical Guayaquilanian lunch the tour moves into the southern highlands to Cuenca, Ecuador's most beautiful historical city, for tours of the famous Gualaceo food market.

(For a video detailing the issues surrounding the „ethanol effect‰ see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0sxhX8XZB0)

About Enchanted Expeditions

Enchanted Expeditions http://www.enchantedexpeditions.com/ (formerly Angermeyer‚s Enchanted Expeditions) is in its fourth decade of operating tours in Galapagos and mainland Ecuador. Over thirty years ago while travelling around South America, Judy Carvalhal, the founder of Enchanted Expeditions, fell in love with Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, settling thereafter.

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