Probably an Odd Question

YES!  Bottled water for drinking, wash all fruit and vegitables and absolutely stay away from street vendors, at least for the first couple of years.

That depends how strong is your stomach and if you are used to live/eat in another countries.

Bottle water: yes  Fresh products: some water will be OK, but in some supermarkets sell special liquids to clean them 
Street vendors: depends, some ones are good if they sell fried food but fruits has to be avoided.

Before we came here we ate yogurt with lactobacillus for several weeks, it help protects the stomach.

Regards
Vinny

thanks for the info.  good to know.

Yes to all questions in general. There are only a few cities/towns that provide potable water, though the government is working on several induvidual city's water systems. Wash your veggies and fruits in boiled/cooled water, drink it or buy bottled water which are available everywhere. But don't let that hold you back from an otherwise great travel experience!

thanks. Whould love to hear more about your experience in Ecuador if you don't mind sharing.

yes, bottled water for sure, plus I use filtered water to clean my fruits and veggies. Safe food handling practice is basically the same anywhere in the world. Even in Houston I double washed all the fruits and veggies. I am braver than most, I have eaten at many of the street vendor's carts and sidewalk cafe's in Salinas. I pay attention though, to how they are handling the food/beverage just like I do anywhere. It is a nice LITTLE town and the vendors/restaurants who are making the locals sick won't stay in business long. I do eat fresh fruit and produce and a lot of it. That is my main diet. I purchase the fruits and veggies from the farmer's markets and clean everything very carefully. I live here permanently and do like the locals do.

Depends on where you are.  As a general rule, don't drink the water in cities; most anywhere in the Andes tap water is healthy, mineral water.  Wash fresh produce as you would is U.S.; it's not nasty or anything like that, but farm may have used pesticides.  Food street vendors usually safe, good food.