Santiago, Dominican Republic: Because Everybody Loves Food

Cresonia Hsieh is a student at University of Florida and an ISA Featured Blogger. Cresonia is currently studying abroad with ISA- CP in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

This is pretty much what my lunch looks like everyday - jealous?
This is pretty much what my lunch looks like everyday – jealous?

In my time in Santiago, I’ve realized that there are several foods that Dominicans have all the time.  Below I’ve taken pictures of some of the following:

Breakfast:

A very popular Dominican breakfast is a ham and cheese sandwich. Some people make it with French bread, but my family tends to make it with white bread, ham and Gouda cheese.

A crispy ham and cheese sandwich tends to be my breakfast at least once a week - Yum!
A crispy ham and cheese sandwich tends to be my breakfast at least once a week – Yum!

Lunch:

Lunch is the most formal and largest meal of the day in the Dominican Republic. Every lunch seems to have rice and beans (arroz con habichuelas), some type of meat (typically pork) and usually a vegetable or fruit of some kind. For this lunch, my family made arepas de yuca, a salad, and rice, beans and pork.

Arepas in the Dominican Republic are lightly fried yuca. However, many countries have their own variation of an arepa and they differ greatly by culture.
Arepas in the Dominican Republic are lightly fried yuca. However, many countries have their own variation of an arepa and they differ greatly by culture.
This salad is made of diced tomatoes and iceberg lettuce. Simple yet sophisticated - I like it.
This salad is made of diced tomatoes and iceberg lettuce. Simple yet sophisticated – I like it.

Dinner:

If there’s one meal I’ve had every week in Santiago, it’s los tres golpes. Apparently this is usually served for breakfast, but in my household it’s served often for dinner. Los tres golpes is pretty much mangú (mashed yuca) served with eggs, white cheese and salami.

For some reason I always end up eating this dish before I get a picture, so I’ve included a picture of a Sancocho, another popular dish, as a nice substitute.

Sancocho is a hot stew made largely of meat and vegetables. Here, my sancocho is pictured with rice, yuca, and goat.
Sancocho is a hot stew made largely of meat and vegetables. Here, my sancocho is pictured with rice, yuca, and goat.

Drinks:

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Jugo de Cereza is a popular drink here in the DR. It’s lightly sweet and has lots of tiny white seeds.

Dominicans seem to like their foods with a flavored drink. In the Dominican Republic, this usually means juice (jugo). Popular juices here are orange (naranja), passion fruit (chinola), cherry (cereza), and oatmeal (avena).

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