Contents
It happens that we go to another country to establish ourselves in what we already know – from the words of friends or from the frames of a travel show. Going beyond the usual images is not easy. Going to the Dominican Republic, the editor of Psychologies tried to see the country for what it is. Or rather, taste it. The impressions were sweet.
Somewhere in my mind, next to the word “Dominican Republic”, pictures-postcards were steadily placed. Here is a postcard “beach”. Coral sand, crystal-clear turquoise water, and in contrast to them, the black silhouettes of long-stemmed palm trees reaching into the sky. This is the Dominican Republic from the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean” by Gore Verbinski or the TV show “The Last Hero”.
Here is a picture of the “jungle”: relict ferns and impenetrable thickets of bushes, waterfalls and mountain ranges in the distance. These subtropical forests of the Dominican Republic were shown to us by Steven Spielberg in Jurassic Park (1993), part of the outdoor scenes were filmed in the Isabel de Torres National Park.
There are also postcards with a pirate bottle of rum, chocolate and piña colada. What is the Dominican Republic without rum and piña colada? But food is more difficult.
The strongest impressions are given by meetings with those who get this food, grow it, cook it.
Which picture will convey the rich taste of the Sancocho soup, adored by all the locals? And it’s not soup at all, but rather a stew, stew or hodgepodge, where, in addition to 5-7 types of meat, everything that grows in the country is mixed: plane tree (vegetable banana), sweet potato, yucca, pumpkin, corn – and it’s hard to imagine what it will catch from this hearty fragrant thick spoon next time.
And what picture will convey the feeling of acute delight when you try chicharones (Chicharones) – juicy pieces of pork with cracklings, fried to a crisp?
No videos will help, just go and try – street food and snacks in cafes, freshly caught sea bream, corn pies and fried platano tostones … But the strongest impressions are given by meetings with those who get this food, grow it, and cook it. Who is connected with her by blood and looks at her with a passion for a gourmet and a professional. With those who catch and butcher fish at the piers of Santo Domingo, who bake yucca cakes in mountain villages. Perhaps these meetings and tastings are the most natural way to see not the postcard Dominican Republic, but the way it is?
Dolce Vita
“This variety is called “crema de oro” (Crèma de oro, golden cream) – it is not at all fibrous and very sweet, – 56-year-old farmer Rafael proudly holds out the fruit with a delicate yellow skin and smiles like a child, a little embarrassedly. Like sharing a favorite toy. Crèma de oro has a pleasant honey aroma and bright orange flesh. – And this is Banilejo, he is not so big, but very juicy. There is also Springfield, Madame Francaise… Actually, I have many other varieties on the farm, but here are only five. The rest will be delivered tomorrow.
Whoever says that real mango grows only in Thailand has not been to Bani. I have not seen or tasted the best varieties of hundreds of mango varieties grown in the southwest of the Dominican Republic. You can appreciate their taste , which takes place in this small town an hour from Santo Domingo at the end of June.
May-June is the peak season. Arrive at this time – the fruits from roadside trees will fall right into your hands, and you can buy selected varieties at the collapse literally for a penny. 11 large mangoes cost us 100 pesos (that’s about 130 rubles). But it is not so much the price that inspires, but the atmosphere.
Mango is a business, but also a way of life, a way of life passed down from generation to generation
The harvest festival is a joyful and hectic event. The park is lively. Boys with carriers run along the rows with mountains of mangoes of all possible colors, ready to carry your purchases to the car for a few pesos. Crates of fruit are being unloaded from vans, wholesalers are looking at who to sign contracts with for the next year, buses with tourists are arriving.
Mango is a business, relative financial stability, but also a way of life, a way of life passed down from generation to generation. “Grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather worked on our farm, but I don’t know exactly how many ancestors before them,” says Rafael. “I have been working for as long as I can remember. Probably from birth. At first he helped his father and mother, then one coped. Now the children are connected, I have four of them – two boys and two girls.
What do you like most about mango: aroma or taste? “I love eating it! I just love to eat! Someone makes sweets, marmalade, syrup from mango. We eat at home and drink juice or prepare gravy, sauce – for meat, for example. Delicious”.
You can’t earn much from mango breeding, there is no talk of wealth, Rafael admits. But he is satisfied: enough for life. “Of course, I would like the children to continue the family business, but let them decide for themselves. It’s good for me to live here. And the new generation thinks differently.”
Yes, there is mango. Pineapples, papaya, bananas, sapote, guava, melons and watermelons… It would seem that the abundance of all these sweet fruits and fruits should more than cover the need of local residents for carbohydrates. But no. Because there is still sugar cane. Although it is not native to the island, but brought by the conquistadors, it has taken root very well and to this day remains the main export product of the republic. So sweets and desserts based on cane molasses, milk and chocolate perfectly complement the fruit.
Try the traditional dulce con leche, gooey, a cross between condensed milk and fudge, bought in cans and eaten with spoons. Or leche cortado – a coconut dessert with concentrated milk. Or a thick milkshake with sapote pulp – orange, with a slight carrot-pumpkin flavor, comparable in satiety to a whole dinner.
I don’t know if the passion for sweets affects the positive mood of the Dominicans or it’s all about the heavenly climate, but they are really cheerful and open. By the way, eating habits researcher Dr. Alan R. Hirsch from Chicago describes sweet tooth as very cheerful people who are not accustomed to regret their deeds.
Happy is he who feels good where he lives. Dominicans are happy here
“We are really cheerful and happy,” agrees Aramis Adames, 49, the owner of a tourism business in the Dominican Republic. — I fly a lot around the world, especially often to Europe, and I can clearly see the difference. The people there are different. Not that they are too serious, rather not very satisfied. Happy is he who feels good where he lives. The Dominicans are happy here. Of course, we are poor compared to Germany. But we love our country. Traveling, why not. Here I have a dream to visit Oymyakon, the coldest place in the world. I want to go in winter to be there right away at a temperature of minus 60. At least for a couple of days. This is my dream”.
“Sweets accurately convey our character, our openness and friendliness,” says 39-year-old graphic designer and museum curator Alain Campos. And he adds playfully: “We are as sweet as these desserts. Here, try the piñonata, this is our signature dish, made according to the legendary recipe!”
We met with Alain in his author’s cafe, which is called “Piñonate”. Cafe – at that hid in the center of the beautiful city of Puerto Plata, the first refuge of Columbus in the New World. The place is special and the cafe is special. Luperon is the beloved national hero of the Dominican Republic, the general, the leader of the movement to restore the country’s independence from Spain in 1865. And the concept of “Piñonate” is closely tied to history and the revival of traditions.
“Cooking, desserts are my passion,” says Alain. “Especially the desserts with coconuts. I am self-taught, I did not study gastronomy. I watched my grandmother and mother cook. I opened this place because I really love the history and culture of the country. We are looking for old recipes for sweets and save them from oblivion. For example, we make piñonata according to the recipe of the Luperon family, which has been preserved since the beginning of the XNUMXth century. When Gregorio was little, he sold these sweets to help his family. The recipe was kept in the family archives, we begged it from the general’s great-granddaughter and cooked it. And under her leadership. These recipes are a real treasure!”
Pignonates are sweet but not sugary coconut balls with a pleasant caramel note. There are three main ingredients: pineapple, coconut pulp and sugar. Cinnamon, cloves and other spices create a special flavor bouquet.
“There are many variations of piñonate in the world: some mix coconut with milk and sweet potato, others, the Spaniards, for example, add pine nuts and flour. In Venezuela, papaya. We have these recipes, and guests can compare all these tastes. But you can taste the piñonata according to the recipe of the Luperon family only here!”
Such meetings, where the memory of the past catches the emotions of the present, and the enjoyment of taste complements the joy of meaning, are especially inspiring, and also allow you to deviate from the set travel route, slightly change the optics and discover something of your own. To see the country a little more voluminous, alive, real.
We thank the Representative Office of the Ministry of Tourism of the Dominican Republic in Russia for their assistance in organizing the trip. Learn more about the Dominican Republic и .