Food for Thought: How Food and Economics Intersect in Rural Ecuador

Abstract

Dietary trends can have large implications on public health. there is a strong physiological connection between food consumption and one’s well-being. Thus nutrition is an important factor in a nation’s overall health. many factors contribute to how and why an individual eats certain foods. In ecuador, historical, socioeconomic, cultural, behavioral, and environmental factors influence the different diets, and thereby, the nutritional conditions, of different ethnic, and regional geographic populations. discrepancies among these groups are particularly noticeable in sierra, Ecuador’s the highland region. This paper examines the prevalence of malnutrition across Ecuador. Specifically, it considers how the Ecuadorian diet took shape, and how different sub-cuisines contribute to malnutrition. While all regions are considered, a focus is placed primarily on the Sierra, given that levels of malnutrition are noticeably higher in this region, and that this highland area is home to large rural and indigenous communities who are most significantly impacted by the area’s nutritional conditions.