Now that I have been living in the Dominican Republic for over three months, I think it’s time I share more about the culture. In this post I will focus on the food! In my time thus far, I have lived with three different host families, each one very different in what they made for me. My first doña was much older and more old fashioned and took the time to make me elaborate meals. She has been hosting volunteers for twenty years now, so she has worked out the kinks in the past. My second doña during our community based training always made the typical meal for lunch, called La Bandera, which I will explain, however breakfast and dinner were a struggle at times. Now I am living with a loving family, and as we continue to get to know each other she has learned a great amount about my food preferences, so she has shifted what she buys for me to accommodate those preferences instead of continuing with the typical Dominican food constantly. There is something Dominicans say whenever someone eats to tell them to enjoy the food; So as you continue to read about the food here, Buen provecho!
Breakfast (El desayuno):
My doña in Pantoja made me the best breakfasts. It was either eggs; fried or scrambled with tomato and onion and toast; or grilled cheese always with orange juice and my coffee. The grilled cheese was made with their squeaky yellow cheese, but I did not mind those either.
In my second home, I struggled a bit more with breakfasts there. Some days she would give me two loaves of bread with butter inside and pressed on the Panini maker. Other days I would have tostones, fried plantains, with an egg. Other days it was boiled plantains and a fried egg or fried salami. There was one morning I could not eat what she made me because she made something I had never seen before called Maizena. It is corn flour that I believe she made with milk and some sugar, but it had the same consistency of pudding. Yet, by the time I got out to eat it had congealed a bit on the top and I could not bring myself to eat it. The consistency did not agree with me.
I had to make sure my current doña knows I cannot eat plantains in the morning anymore for breakfast because they are way too heavy for me. Now, I eat “corn flay” (Corn Flakes is what they call cereal in general here) and have my morning coffee.
Coffee (Café):
Since the Dominican Republic does have an abundance of coffee farms, drinking coffee is a pretty big staple here. They drink it at any time of the day; in the morning of course, but also right after lunch or even after dinner occasionally. The difference with this coffee and what we drink in the states is this is straight espresso. Typically, Dominicans will drink un chin (a little) and then add more than a tablespoon of sugar. I will typically add some milk or creamer, but I have become accustomed to the Dominican coffee with only sugar because it would be rude to say no to free coffee, and who would truly want to turn down coffee.
Lunch (El almuerzo):
I mentioned earlier we have the typical La Bandera for lunch every day. La Bandera consists of some type of rice, meat, beans and a salad. If we have arroz blanco (white rice) they have to make habichuelas (pinto beans) with pieces of auyama (pumpkin). They also make moro, rice with black beans, and locrio, rice cooked with the meat. The meat will be pollo (chicken), cerdo (pig) or carne de res (beef). Finally, the salad could be lettuce, tomato and cucumber with a vinegar dressing or they also make ensalada mixta, which is essentially a potato salad. Sometimes they will add some fried platano maduro, ripe plantains, which are really good and add some sweetness. My favorite is eggplant with white rice. They will char the eggplant straight on the stove, then take out the inside and mash it with some garlic. Then they put it in a pan on the stove to sauté it and bring out more flavor. It is absolutely delicious!
Another typical Dominican dish is Sancocho. This is a heavy soup made on special occasions with all types of víveres, root vegetables; such as: plátano verde (green plantains), yautía (taro), papas (potato) and batata (sweet potato); then they add zanahoria (carrots) and meat, typically pollo (chicken). They may serve it with a side of white rice as well. Although it is always hot in this country, may as well eat the hot soup anyways. It’s not like the little extra sweat will make that much of a difference.
Snacks (la merienda):
I have noticed some Dominicans really enjoy eating snacks after lunch and before dinner. Colmados are small grocery stores spread out among the houses in every community that sell any of the food you may need to cook. In addition to canned foods and fresh veggies or fruit, they will sell chips, crackers, cookies and juice.
Everyone loves their juice here; I drink a lot of fruit punch along two packets of crackers at my director’s house. But I also drink a lot of fresh juices, such as: guayaba, mango, tamarindo, piña and more. These fresh juices are the best and always refreshing.
There are obviously excellent fresh fruits as well. There is such an abundance of mangos here that thousands probably go bad because they cannot eat that many. The mangos are incredible; I have found that I prefer the ones that are not too ripe so I can slice them and add a little lime. Otherwise, when they ripen more they become hairy and the fibers get stuck in your teeth easily, or your permanent retainers in my case. But either way, they are definitely worth the trouble.
Dinner (La cena):
This has been a struggle at times because they love eating mangú, which is mashed plantain with sautéed onions on top and either salami, eggs or fried cheese. I don’t mind this every once in a while, but I prefer not eating it every night. Luckily my host mom now knows I love vegetables, so she has been making me a veggie soup recently, which really is just a huge bowl of chopped up veggies with some type of sauce. She has also been making me scrambled eggs with onion, cheese and tomato.
In the past I have had many tostadas, which usually included tomato and onion with mayonnaise and ketchup pressed in a Panini maker. Making spaghetti is also very common here, however they will add pieces of bell pepper, salami and maybe onion. The sauce is never a typical tomato spaghetti sauce; instead they add evaporated milk to make a creamier, cheesy sauce.
One fast food that is available just about everywhere is Pica Pollo, fried chicken, and typically served with tostones. I don’t necessarily want it all the time, but every once and a while the fried chicken is a nice change.
Overall, I do enjoy most of the food here. There is very little I have eaten that I did not like, such as yautia (taro) and the maizena. I believe I can easily eat La Bandera every day and drink the juices for the next two years. I am excited to move into my own apartment in a few months to start cooking for myself. I will need to get inventive, but I am interested to see what I can come up with having fewer resources and options available like I am accustomed to in the States. I might need some ideas, so I welcome any recipes people may have!
