Ambato's markets are the best place to eat. The Mercado Central and the larger Mercado Mayorista feed the region's farmers and traders, and the food stalls inside serve hearty highland cooking — seco de pollo, llapingachos (potato cakes with peanut sauce), and caldo de pata (trotter soup) — at prices well below what you would pay in a restaurant.
The city also has a tradition of bread and pastry making, a legacy of wheat farming in the surrounding valley. Look for pan de Ambato in the bakeries around the central market — a dense, flavourful white bread unlike the factory loaves sold elsewhere in Ecuador.