Food

A few people have asked about what we have been eating while we are here. Dominican food is pretty simple, with beans and rice at the core of the meal. Those who can afford meat will eat chicken, fish, beef and pork. Spaghetti is also very popular! Typical vegetables are root vegetables like yams, and yucca root, and the most popular side is fried or boiled plantains. Simple green salads are also common, along with lots of fruit. We have mostly been doing our own cooking (except for ordering fried plantains at the beach a time or two). The following list pretty much covers our pantry: oatmeal, eggs, toast, coffee, fruit (oranges, pineapple, zapote, bananas, melons, coconut), beans, rice, vegetables (tomatoes, squash, green beans, onions, cucumbers, carrots, garlic and peppers) a little pasta, a little cheese, and sugarcane for an extra sweet treat. Oh, and little tiny ants. We don't eat them, but they are always in our kitchen.

This photo shows what we recently brought back from the local fruit stand where everything is grown as locally as you can get! The brown fruit that looks like a big kiwi is called zapote. It is bright coral red inside with a huge beautiful seed, and the fruit tastes like a very sweet juicy yam with the texture of an avocado. Very interesting! The carrots here are HUGE, and the most surprising thing is that they are delicate, sweet and crispy. Avocados went out of season just as we arrived in the DR, and mango season is just beginning.

The oranges here don't look like much from the outside, but inside.....wow. They are delicious.

Beans, beans and more beans. There are so many varieties. They are sold without labels so we haven't learned what all the different beans are called. These were like fat lentils, and they were fantastic.

 

 

Zapote on the left and guanabana on the right. Guanabana is considered by some to have medicinal/healing properties. Its texture is like a lychee crossed with a pineapple and hair, and it tastes like fragrant soap and goat urine. There are tons of seeds the size of very plump pumpkin seeds, which you spit out (along with the fruit) -- at least that's how we ate it.