El Campeonato Del Encebollado

Hi guys! Today, I want to share with you an event we attended a few weeks ago. It was an Ecuadorian event here in Queens, NY, and took place on March 11th. It was called “El Campeonato del Encebollado” which in English means, Fish Soup Championship. Now, you might be wondering, why on Earth would such an event exist? Well, let me give you some Ecuadorian culture facts. Encebollado is a national treasure in Ecuador. If you were born and raised in this country, you WILL love this soup. Everybody eats it. And I mean everybody! However, I don’t like it. I’m not really a fish person. There are a few exceptions, but overall I can’t take the taste or smell of fish.

There are different ways you can make this soup and I’ve seen several ways. Mostly, I’ve seen dishes that are not as fancy as my feature picture. Basically, this soup is made with shredded fish, casssava or yuca in Spanish, and lots and lots of red onions. My husband loves it. My dad loves it. Everyone I know in Ecuador loves it. And one funny fact: after you’ve been out drinking the whole night into the next morning, most youngsters in Ecuador opt for an encebollado to wake themselves up, i.e. reduce their hangover!

One of the contestants

So if I don’t like encebollado, why did I attend this event?

Many reasons.

1. It’s an Ecuadorian event so if it has to do with Ecuador, I will try to be there.
2. A notable folk singer from Ecuador was a judge: Segundo Rosero. I like his music and I have some of his songs.
3. A notable American journalist who writes and reports on Ecuador was another judge: Chris Johnson. It was cool to meet him.
4. It was great seeing other Ecuadorians in attendance.
5. The food at this restaurant was amazing!

Continuing with the food thread, I ordered a cazuela. This is is a soup with a green banana base. It’s so good. It has a lot of seafood in it, most of which I don’t like, but the soup itself is to die for. So I ordered it!

Cazuela

With my hubby Henry

My parents

My kiddies

This is what my hubby and Dad ordered: Churrasco

Loved this little container for the salad dressing!

The judges

The contestants

We tried some of the contestant’s food and they were pretty good, however, none of the ones we tried were the first, second, or third place winners. Boo! This was still very exciting and there was a big crowd gathered. The name of the restaurant that sponsored the event was called El Sabor Latino and it was a beautiful venue! It was definitely a place we plan on visiting again in the future.

Waiting to see who won!

El Campeonato Del Encebollado is a post that first appeared on the website: Baby Henry Likes on May 5, 2017.

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