Indigenous Biodiversity
Towne & Forrester has been working with local farmers and entrepreneurs in the Ecuadorian Amazon since 2017 to develop a unique forest-to-table meal. Together, we have built a new type of community visit comprising of a complete chakra tour of over 100 species of plants, fruits, legumes, and pisciculture. Participants can harvest these foods and help prepare a meal which they later sit down and share together, consisting of a wide variety of products not found even in the local markets. Almost 100% of the ingredients, juices, and condiments served in this meal are found on this organic chakra.
Through our program, La Chakra Alimenta (The Farm Feeds), we seek to cultivate and expand this traditional food experience through the wide network of “comidas típicas” restaurants and tourist projects. This program will tie together two mainstays: the importance of the chakra in reviving a culture of sustainable food and applying this food culture to tourism as an emerging economic activity. By applying value to an activity such as farming or a practice such as food culture, we are able to maintain traditional indigenous farming techniques and sustain traditional a native plant species.