La Comida (What we eat)

As I think about things to post, I thought that I’d share a little bit about the food that we eat. We can get lots of American food here, such as Rob’s favorites – Hellman’s mayonnaise, Heinz ketchup, and Vlasic pickles – plus other things such as Betty Crocker cake mixes, Tide, etc. But we have been trying to eat a little more of the Dominican food. The fruits and vegetables are quite interesting. Yes, we get Gala apples and strawberries from the US, but there are some unique foods here. We, of course, have mangoes, papaya, pineapple, and giant avocados, but I didn’t put them all here in detail because I thought you would know about them.

Milk

Milk comes in cartons and just sits in the cupboard until you chill it to drink. It doesn’t taste like Kroger milk, but it’s pretty good. In comes in 2% and 3% boxes (Hey, what’s not to like at 3% milk, right?)

Eggs

I have not seen eggs refrigerated since we have been here! They are just out in the stores. We, of course, always cook them, and we wash them before cracking, so we haven’t had a problem. But it still is a little scary, and I try not to think about it. Here’s a man walking down the street with his eggs to deliver to some store…

Vegetables

Carrots – enormous but really sweet no matter how big they get; these are about 2” in diameter, but most of them are about 3”.

Tayota or Chayota– a totally unknown veggie in the US; after you peel it, it reminds me of a pear, but you slice it and cook it until soft. It then has the consistency of a cook pear, but we can’t describe the taste. Sort of like a cooked zucchini…good even if it is a little bland.

Pumpkin Squash – sold year around in large slices at the store. I use it in a great Caribbean stew recipe that I found.

Batata – Dominican sweet potato; looks just like a giant potato, but it is really hard. You peel it, cut it into pieces and then boil. It is sweet, not as sweet as our sweet potatoes, but looks like a potato inside. I found a recipe for Batata pudding which was pretty tasty, but really sweet even with half the sugar. 

Green Beans – very tasty and thin; they cost about 50 cents a pound here. A can of green beans is around $1.50.

Mango - they sell these on the street corners for about 50 cents each.  Nummy to add frozen ones to a smoothie.

Papaya - oops!  I didn't take a picture of one of these open. They have all these little black seeds that you have to remove.  They are ripe when the valleys between the ridges are yellow (I had to learn that!).  They are wonderful as well.

Fruits

Guanabana – interesting fruit that’s round and has a little spikey-ness (is that a word?) When you cut it in half, there is a core that has large black beans. You remove it and then scoop out the rest. It’s pretty bland, so I add it to our morning mango smoothies.                                                                                                                                                            

Avocados

I don’t seem to have a picture, but they are huge – around the size of a small cantaloupe and really tasty!