Otavalo's food scene is modest but genuine. The market area has cheap comida corriente — set lunches of soup, rice, and protein — that feed the vendors and buyers who come in from the surrounding villages. Better restaurants are concentrated on the streets near the main plaza.
The local speciality is hornado — whole roasted pig cooked in a wood-fired oven, served with mote (hominy corn), potatoes, and a tomato-onion curtido. Yamor, a fermented corn drink made from seven varieties of maize, is the local festival drink and available in some restaurants during September.