Scraping Coconut

"Scraping coconut" documents the health impacts and cultural and culinary traditions surrounding coconut, as remembered and experienced by Afro-Ecuadorians in the northern coastal region of Esmeraldas, Ecuador. The documentary is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted and shot between 2012 and 2017 in various locations in the province of Esmeraldas, and in Quito, Ecuador. Through the voices of medical and culinary specialists, as well as Afro-Ecuadorian cultural and culinary experts, the film offers a unique window into ancestral cooking methods and medicinal traditions in coastal Ecuador. It also offers insights into the socio-economic and health impacts and value of the consumption and use of traditional foods and medicinal practices, as lived and told by Afro-Ecuadorians themselves.