Volunteer: Amazonian Forest Foods and Culinary Arts in Ecuador

Job Description

Location: Tena, EcuadorDuration: Minimum 1 month (flexible for min. 2 weeks depending on interns qualifications), Maximum 1 yearStart Dates:Project is ongoing, and you can join at any time, depending upon availabilityCost: $450 for the 1st week + $250 for each additional week (2 month minimum is recommended)Fee Includes: all food, accommodation, pre-departure + in-country support, orientation and all project related activitiesDoes not Include: flights, airport pickup, travel insurance, personal spending, visas and vaccinationsPlease note: This opportunity is designed to give you the contacts and experience to help further your career. You are not replacing any member of staff, but helping alongside them, whilst learning new skills.BenefitsImmerse yourself in the Amazon rainforest including living with an indigenous Kichwa host family, experts in the foods of the forestFlexible placement, tailored according to your interests and abilities.Experience the unique interculturality and sustainability of the Ecuadorian culinary field, which is becoming known for its fruits, vegetables, nuts, flavors, and insects.Increase your plant identification, agroforestry, sustainable agriculture, herbalism, and other cooking speciality skills.Hands-on experience and organize Farm to Table (Forest to Table) methodology, to help grow a rural indigenous familys restaurant into a main attraction in the region.Option to collaborate part-time in a botanical garden, public park with a tree nursery, community tourism restaurant, traditional medicine and herbalism association, and more.Learn about agriculture, indigenous rights, womens empowerment, ecotourism, Fair Trade, and Organic certifications and social entrepreneurship.Numerous research +amp; dissertation opportunities available with partner organizations and universities, if requested.Participate in and help develop cultural exchange events including ecotourism, medicinal plant remedy workshop, farm to table Amazonian forest foods meals, and guayusa tea ceremonies.Keywords: culinary arts, forest foods, sustainable agriculture, organic agriculture, herbalism, ethnobotany, clinic, midwifery, hospital placement, flexible serious project, medicine, emergency medicine, traditional healing, indigenous rights, agroforestry, biodiversity, sustainable development, research, community development, economic development, climate change, womens empowerment.The Amazon rainforest is home to the most biodiverse ecosystem in the world, with over 40,000 plant species and 2.5 million insect species! Also incredible is that 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from the rainforest, yet only 1% of the materials with potential have been tested - the Amazon is an idyllic place to be studying and learning about culinary opportunities and herbalism due to the vast amount of plants and indigenous knowledge. Yet, the comidas tipicas (typical food) of the region is composed of farmed river fish and chicken, rather than the delicious and abundant foods of the rainforest.For this project, you will live with a farming family in the Napo province, centered around the main city of Tena, about 4 hours East of Quito, Ecuadors capital city. You will be living in a community, with an indigenous family that is working to bring value back to their traditional forest foods. Their goal is that locals and visitors alike will re-establish their link to the Amazon forest and the health and diversity its plants and other products provide.Because you live with local families that also eat a majority of their meals from their chakras (agroforestry gardens or farms) and practice traditional medicine using herbs also from their chakra, you will forge meaningful connections to the people and plants of the Amazon as you will be living amongst them! At the same time, you can gain perspective on what it means to incorporate these products into meaningful collaborations that support local economies in an environmentally sustainable way.In addition to engaging in unique Amazonian activities such as swimming in waterfalls, making chocolate from fresh-picked cacao, and trekking in the virgin rainforest, our immersion program offers the chance to become part of an Ecuadorian family and community, dive deep into language learning (Spanish and Kichwa!), and create your own creative community-based projects.This is an opportunity for motivated, enthusiastic, and adventurous interns to immerse themselves in the most biodiverse place in the world - the Amazon rainforest. It is a unique opportunity to see and be a part of the changes that are occurring as families try to bring value and modern flare to their traditional forest foods. If desired, you could also participate in research and innovative projects to continue to analyze this union and cultural significance.During your project, you will first have a 3-day orientation to start learning about the culture, people, geography, and what it means to be an intern abroad. After this, it is guaranteed that no day will be the same, as you will move in with your indigenous host family! Perhaps you will be getting up at 6am every morning to brew and drink guayusa with your host Grandmother and talk about your dreams, while preparing green plantain and wild ferns for breakfast. Whatever it may bring, the host family immersion is a crucial part to your hands-on knowledge sharing. While immersing into their home and community, youll begin collaborating and learning in your project as well.Many farming families, organizations, and community/ecotourism initiatives are working hard to re-value and preserve the traditional forest foods while also bringing a modern culinary flare to the dishes. Through this project, you will have the chance to be a part of this movement to value the boundless and delicious sustainable, local, organic agriculture, insects, herbs, and flavorings. Some of the amazing products you will get to learn about and experiment incorporating into dishes include ishpingo (Amazonian cinnamon), ajo de monte (wild garlic leaf), maduro (sweet plantain), muru inchi (Amazonian peanut), chontacurro (grub), chontaduro (peach palm), and pes electrica (river eel), to name a few!Some Sample Activities IncludeCollaborating directly with cooks and farmers as they navigate the intersection of contemporary and traditional cuisine and products in the Ecuadorian AmazonLearning alongside local cooks, agroforestry specialists, and plant experts to gain an understanding of the role of traditional practicesIdentifying local traditional plants and understanding their importance in traditional medicine and cookingEstablishing working relationships with cooks, restaurants, social entrepreneurs, and community tourism initiatives in the regionShadowing cooks and Amazonian enterprises to learn about the current initiatives happening with traditional rain forest productsUsing your creativity to invent your own plates and dishes with local products, alongside your host family and counterpartsLearning about and participating in the agroforestry methodology and food forests that exist, with the goal to understand how to preserve these cultural practicesShadowing and contributing to work in the chakra (traditional-planted agroforestry farm or garden) to plant and harvest productsWorking to create and clear trails in medicinal plant gardens or chakrasGuiding visitors to learn about traditional agroforestry and medicinal plant practices and support other community and ecotourism initiativesResearching and assisting with initiatives brought by the local community tourism associations that are aiming to increase the use of forest products throughout the regionYour main projects can be combined with us supporting you to network with communities, entrepreneurs, restaurants, governmental projects, and women's groups, to create an independent research project.Please note: all information above is subject to change. Please check the most up to date information on the Global Nomadic website when applying.