Dominican Food

LETS TALK ABOUT THE FOOD

Dominican Food is SO good. My first trip to the Dominican I was volunteering for an English teaching organization. Which means that for the most part all of our food was taken care of. We had a fantastic lady that would cook for us (mainly our dinners) and it was to die for. Something that quickly became a crowd favourite was something that we ended up called "gorditas" or "little fatties" because we would eat so many of them. Although I don't remember the technical name for them,  I believe they are called "Arepitas de Maiz". They are almost like a corn fry bread. All of us volunteers loving sweet things would put honey butter on them to make them that much better. Typically for dinner we would have something called "La Bandera" which mostly consists of eating a plate full of rice, beans, veggies, and some type of meat. Although other times we would have chicken salad, or spaghetti. 

LA BANDERA

COOKING ON OUR STOVE

There is no shortage on the fruit situation either. It's so refreshing to be able to eat any citrus or tropical fruit you want at basically anytime. From mangos, pineapple, papaya, and Oranges. I was also able to try some new fruits such as Chinola (passionfruit), guava, guanabana and one other called Zapote. You are able to buy fresh juice at almost every colmado, and if you are lucky some of the locals will even teach you how to make it! 

Here you will also find the biggest and best avacados as well as guineo. Guineo is basically eating boiled green bananas. They are used quite frequently because they are cheaper than plantains and are easy to cook. A few new vegetables that I tried here are Batata, Tayota, and Aji Gustoso.

FRUIT MARKET

GUANABANA

AVAVADOS

PASSION FRUIT

GUINEO 

Now I'm not going to lie to you, the food here is very different than what you are probably used to. I admit that I love chicken, rice and beans but there were a few times that I had some food that I wasn't a fan of. These experiences came when I was not a volunteer but a tourist. I was staying at my friends house and not in a hotel/resort, but I got the full experience of what locals ate. Mostly it was the same rice, beans, and meat but on special occasions they would make something different. Some new items better than others. 

First Up: BBQ's :

BBQ ON THE BEACH

HOME BBQ 

CHULETA (PORK)

             

BBQ COMPANY 

I've been to a few BBQ's in the Dominican and while they do taste different than Canadian or American BBQ's they are still delicious. Mostly Chicken, Pork, Hotdogs and Coca Cola. 

Definitely a good choice! 

Second: BOFE :

Bofe in English is cow lung, and let me tell you that it tastes exactly like I would imagine a cow lung to taste. Not my favourite, but definitely worth a shot. Every single dominican I asked if they liked eating bofe would tell me not only that the liked to eat it,  but that they LOVE to eat it. 


Third: CHICKEN FEET :

At first when my neighbour brought me a plate of food for lunch I was so excited to have a giant plate of macaroni, until I realized that there were chicken feet added. Luckily this time I was able to pawn it to someone else who liked them. After that I prayed that when ever we ate chicken I wouldn't get the feet. It's not uncommon to see/eat them here.  


Fourth: TRIPE : 

In all seriousness this one was the worst for me. If you like eating cow stomach I'll pass it over and you can eat mine too! 





Now back to the good stuff. While some of the food can be interesting and different, the Dominican has some of the best options. You just have to go out and explore! I know some people are leery about eating street food which is understandable, but for me I never had any problems and that is where I have found some of my new favourite foods. I could go on and on about the tostadas, empanadas or pica pollo...

At the Colmados (convenience stores) you can get any type of snack. Pop, chocolate, gummy worms, and chips.

 

At Playa Sosua you can get all types of food from the restaurants or street vendors such as fruit, fish, tacos, palito de coco, or cookies. 

Or Just walk past a food truck and pick up some yaroa, tacos, or quesadillas. 

If I could recommend ANYTHING it would be to stop by a heladeria and try out some bizcocho icecream!

Once my roommates and I went on a vacation, but didn't realize that in this specific tiny village there was no restaurants or grocery stores to buy food. While we were walking around the town looking for something to eat the sweetest lady and her husband invited us in and cooked dinner for all of us. I don't know if it was because I was so hungry or what, but that was the best dang chicken I have ever eaten. 

Another time a few of us were walking home from school and noticed that our neighbour was cooking something in a big pot on the side of the road. We asked her what she was making, and she replied: "habichuela con dulce". Before we knew it we were all standing in the street eating sweet beans (a holiday food) and having a good time. We even learned how to make it later on. 

All I can say is that food brings people together, and there are some different dishes that you don't even know about yet that could very well become your new favourites. So get out there and try something new!!