Holy Week, or the week leading up to Easter is one of the most important weeks for Ecuadorians. Most people are Catholic, both practicing and non-practicing. Holy Week is a time for students to get a break from school and everyone else to get a break from work. During this break from school and work, families gets together, some people go to processions on Good Friday, and others go on vacation around Ecuador or even to other countries. No matter how someone spends their break for Holy Week, there is one factor that is consistent among almost all Ecuadorians, la fanesca.
Fanesca is a traditional soup that is eaten during Holy Week and it takes a whole family to make it. It is a soup loaded with many different ingredients, some with Spanish origin and others with Ecuadorian origin. Some of the ingredients include plantain, hard-boiled egg, salted cod, fava beans, corn, peas, lima beans, cannellini beans, onion, heavy cream, cheese, empanadas, avocado, fried dough-balls, and Ecuadorian hot sauce called "ají." There is a saying that fanesca must have twelve grains, although many fanescas don't make it all the way to twelve. Needless to say, after eating a bowl of fanesca, you are pretty much full for an entire week (speaking from experience).
During the last day before the break for Holy Week, the school that I work at has a fanesca celebration. Each grade in the secondary school is responsible for helping to make one aspect of fanesca. That day, I was with the eight grade class. It was our responsibility to make one of the fried dough-balls which are called "rosquitas." Each student received a little bit of dough and they used their desks to roll it out and form it into a ring shape. It was at this moment that I thought there was no way I wasn't going to get food poisoning from this soup.
After all, the soup was delicious. Each student brought their own bowl from home, and we filled up on fanesca made in a giant pot and we ate together on the basketball court. Fanesca is a huge representation of how important food is in Ecuadorian culture. Instead of eating on the go or eating while studying or working like I am accustomed to in the United States, we all worked together to make a meal and enjoy it along with each other's company, and this is a common occurrence day after day. It was a really special moment.
Fanesca also shows the mixture of cultures between the Spanish and the Ecuadorians pre-colonization. It is a reminder of the beauty that can come from a mix of cultures, but also the violence and destruction when one overcomes the other. The origins of fanesca are highly debated. Many of the ingredients, like all the different types of grains, are native to the land in Ecuador. However, some other ingredients, such as the salted cod, come from the Spanish. Salted cod is said to be one of the foods that the Spanish took with them from Spain on their trip to the Americas because it stays good for long periods of time. Some say that the soup has Incan origins and that the Inca made this soup during a harvest celebration, which happens to coincide with Holy Week. Others say that the soup's origins are European and that early Christians ate this soup in hiding when they were being persecuted. Either way, this soup is a pure representation of Ecuadorian culture and origins.
When the Spaniards arrived to the Americas, they were eager to adopt traditions from the Incan culture and turn them into Catholic traditions. This pattern is seen all throughout Ecuador. I see it mainly in the art, the cathedrals, and the fact that almost every school, market, town, etc. has its own Virgin Mary to protect and bless it. All in all, the mixture of cultures here in Ecuador is fascinating, and it is amazing to see how something as simple as a soup can show so much culture and history.
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