Gourman: The Peninsula

Salinas must have been for many decades one of the places —if property owners are considered— with the highest income per capita per km² in Ecuador. However, the gastronomy of the canton has little developed. It also has two fishing ports, Anconcito and Santa Rosa, which are a true warehouse of wonderful and fresh fishing, in which hundreds of fibers supply the country, day by day. The potential demand is in sight; the product offering, too.

So, why didn’t Salinas develop wonderful restaurants, as they have for years on the route of the spondylus? For two decades, Montañita, although today it is in a chaotic state, and, from a closer past, Olón, Puerto Cayo, Manglaralto and other areas with less purchasing power and population, have innumerable high-level restaurants, such as South India, Le Bistrot Gourmand, Shanka Sushi & Thai, Pigro, Momo, La Sociedad, Bocavaldivia; or innovative high-quality ventures, with more limited or simple menus, such as Noa Resto Café, El Origen Acai Bar, La Churrería, among others. I remember that, more than a decade ago, the only place where you could eat a good Pizzaand Pizza!, in the whole area it was at Pizza Marea, Montañita.

Juliana, the new gastronomic ‘hostess’ of Panama Street, in the tourist center of Guayaquil

In Salinas, on the other hand, with at least five decades of previous development and with a good part of the country’s elite in its streets, that is, with a demand with purchasing power, gastronomy did not progress. There are three restaurants that I can rescue in Salinas: the Yulee hotel, which a few years ago renovated its infrastructure and its kitchen with a descendant of the founder, Chinese, and an Italian; Seafood Blue, by Bety Osorio, Peruvian; and Marcos Pizza, by Marcos Liao, Chinese. The three restaurants offer fine cuisine. Marcos Pizza has expanded its menu, which, even though it is reduced, works wonders in its oven, and improving its infrastructure could attract many more customers.

A common factor that I find in all the high-end restaurants on the route of the spondylus is that its promoters or chefs are foreigners, with the exception of Bocavaldivia; common factor also present in Salinas.

Perhaps it is something that our country has not understood. Foreign investment in gastronomy is almost nonexistent, and tourism figures are a game. Ecuador has a volume of tourists per year less than 9% in relation to its population, with one of the wonders of the world, Galapagos; compared to Costa Rica, which has a number of tourists equivalent to 60% of its population; Dominican Republic, with 55%; or Argentina, with all its economic and political tragedy, with 17%.

If we analyze foreign investment, Ecuador barely exceeds 1% of GDP, compared to Colombia, with more than 5% and with 50 years of guerrilla warfare. Will the whys be there? Wouldn’t the Salinas base be a good start to talk about investment and tourism seriously? (OR)