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On Saturday afternoon, our friend Anne Noyes-Saini forwarded on news from Dave Cook of Eating in Translation about the possibility food vendors setting up during Ecuador’s Presidential election, which took place in Long Island City (GMAP) on Sunday. This was based, it part, on a press release from the Consulate General of Ecuador in New York:

The Consulate General of Ecuador in New York, informs the Ecuadorian community that 2013 election:

President, Andean Parliament, National Assembly members and Assemblymen by the United States and Canada, will be held at:

LaGuardia Community College, Building E, located at 31-10 Thomson Ave T, Long Island City, NY, 11101,Sunday February 17, 2013, from 7:00 am until 5:00 pm.

It was also based in part that Dave encountered the polling place four years ago and that there were food vendors set up then. So he made an educated guess that there could be food vendors outside of LaGuardia Community College – and he was right! Queens has, by the way, the largest Ecuadorian population in NYC.

Along with Anne, we headed out into the cold weather in search of tasty Ecuadorian treats, and were rather successful. Here are some photos from the late morning in LIC.

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The crowds – there were a lot of people there that morning. Lots of people walking along the street from the subway.

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Typical offerings of pork, chicken, and choclo (large kerneled cobs of corn).

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Chicken and carne skewers – barbecue sauce and mayo were offered. We chose barbecue sauce, which was a little sweet, and a nice foil to the salty meat.

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Up close shot of the meat (chicken), dripping with sauce. The meat was nice and moist, quite hot causing my teeth to hurt a bit since they were so cold from being exposed to the frigid temps.

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Choclo, roasted corn kernels, chicken, potatoes, pork, and sausages.

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We were told this was “whipped cream.” Dave Cook refers to it as “crema” as he was told. Upon doing a little research it appears this is called “espumilla” (H/T Jeff Orlick). It looks like fluffy soft serve and also like whipped cream; it was served in ice cream cones. Little kids couldn’t get enough of it. More on espumillas:

Espumillas are a popular Ecuadorian street food, the word espumilla means foam. These delicious guava meringue cream desserts are made with fruit pulp, typically guava or guayaba, egg whites and sugar. It’s very common to find street vendors selling espumillas at the exit of most schools in Ecuador. You can also find them outside of the fruit markets in many cities and at most main plazas on the weekends or holidays. Espumillas look like ice-cream and are sold in ice cream cones. This traditional Ecuadorian dessert can be confusing for tourists or those who are not familiar with them. The first time my husband saw them on the street, he asked me “how do they keep that ice-cream from melting?”

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We also picked up a trio of llapingachos, thick potato patties made with achiote, which gives it the orange color. They are soft and taste like mashed potatoes, and tasty ones at that.

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On the left, the rectangular packets are chicken tamales; to the right are humitas, a kind of sweet corn tamale. This was the last vendor we visited.

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This is what the chicken tamale looks like – chicken with peas and carrots. It was very moist and tasty, though a little greasy.

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Here is the humita, still partially shorn in its corn husk wrapper, but it really didn’t look much more different unwrapped than it does here. It was also moist and a little sweet, with corn kernels in it, too.

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Here are people lining up to vote. They just kept coming, and coming, and coming, and coming. Seemingly lots of enthusiasm for the process.

Many thanks to Dave Cook and Anne Noyes-Saini for helping us take a chance and have a great food adventure with Ecuadorian Street Food! Check out Anne’s thoughts on the outing (including a trip to Jackson Heights after we ate Ecuadorian food), over on the City Spoonful Facebook page! P.S. the Dhoda Burfi from Maharaja Sweets is off the hook delicious.


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