lechon1

Lechon is one of the main types of meat eaten in Ecuador. It consists of the ENTIRE pig, which is gutted and then hung from a rail over a vat of boiling oil or lard. It is then dipped in and out of the vat until it is fully cooked to a delectable brown crisp. Vendors sell Lechon all throughout the streets of Ecuador, and one can look at the pig, point to what part they want to eat, and it is sliced off before their eyes. Lechon off the street is never, EVER, good to eat when you are a tourist or a visitor, as Ecuador //is// a third-world country, with no sanitation laws. Ecuadorians don't seem to mind this though, as Lechon is eaten almost every day, at least by city dwellers, while coastal and highland dwellers usually eat fish or some other type of meat. Ecuadorians tend to eat every bit of the pig, from the head and ears all the way down to the intestines and hoofs. Pig intestines can also be sliced, fried, and sold on a stick, much like Platanos. Again, one who is not a native should never eat anything off the street in Ecuador.... it may be the last thing you ever do.  J
 * Lechon or Suckling Pig**