"My opinion is the only one that matters!"

To you..lol

JEM 237, to say that the bandera is a flagship dish is not entirely accurate. it may be a favorite of Dominicans, but it is not something that can be attributed to dominicans. Puerto Ricans in new york have been eating rice and beans long before the dominicans arrived there. the accompanying meat is a matter of choice. when i speak of flagships, i think of dishes that people attribute to a country, such as pernil, chinese food, pasta, etc. when you decide to eat jerk chicken or curry goat, or beef patties with coco-bread, there is only one nationality of restaurant that comes to mind. if you want kung pao chicken, you do not head off to a greek restaurant. moussaka of quality will only be seen in greek restaurants. that is what i am saying. the DR does not have a dish that is specifically Dominican, even though it offers great foods.

SANOCHO, Mangu With fried cheese, salami, and eggs. (Los tres golpes), are Dominican Flagship meals.

Arroz Carne y habichuelas can be a Dominican flagship meal b/c of the way its prepared, the seasoning behind the meal. Jamaican makes chicken but it prepares it with a Jerk seasoning that's the difference. Same thing with Cuban and Puerto Rican the tastes slightly different.

"Same thing with Cuban and Puerto Rican the tastes slightly different."

They do, they do, they do...You can put a plate of race and beans in front of me and based on the seasoning of the beans alone I'll know if a Dominican made it or not...same thing with sancocho and a host of other dishes we share with the spanish caribbean.

Dreadlock, you make some good points about the specific foods but as many have said it's the ingredients (spices) that makes it a dominican dish or a haitian dish or a cuban dish. I think dominicans can't compete with cubans on the black beans even got us haitian beat but there is still a flag dish. I personally don't like the curry goat and don't like jamaican dishes but there patties is a killer...but your point of going to greeks for x for a specific dish is on point although the similarities are close a national can distinguish a puerto rican dish or dominican dish. It would be hard for dominicans to stand out to foreignors (mainstream) because onece a gringo tasted one cuban food she/he thinks all latinos eat the same thing...mexican food comes to mind which is part of american cuisine..Taco Bell....what's the american dish..I say blacks have that soul food..collard greens and corn bread with fried fish(porgie)....yummy...ok..peace out im getting hungry..

" I think dominicans can't compete with cubans on the black beans even got us haitian beat but there is still a flag dish."

And I'm speaking for the cibaeños because there might be some nuances in southern Dominican cuisine that I'm not aware of...In the cibao, though, we do eat black beans but their use is nowhere near as common as red beans or pinto for that matter..when Dominicans (at least cibaeños) speak of rice and beans they are generally referring to red beans otherwise they will refer specifically to the bean color.

Cibaeno,


Exactly my point..usually dominicans eat red beans but some cook black beans but it isn't no competition with the cuban black beans. We too eat black beans and will give them(cubans) a run for their money. Again it all depends on where you go. I know this hole in the joint in south florida that kick arse for haitian food while they have a commercial restaurant in south beach that is expensive and wouldn't feed it to my dogs..although the ambiance and presentation is nice. Alot of gringos and europeans keep them in business and occasion you'll see haitians dining there. Chinese food is american cuisine as well although you'll never see them eating what the sell..lol..wonder why. Would you say the spices makes the difference?? I think you guys should stick to breaking the barriers in baseball than gastronomy since it is a hard field to break in with the competition..Italian food is typically american food..can someone tell me an authentic american dish besides burgers and fries or pizza.(italian too)?

Any food that is closer to the African taste of food is closer to how naturally as people we were supposed to eat (lol). African way of cooking is the prototype for all cooking and ll other cooking is an archetype of african food period. There is a reason why soul food and Caribbean food which were considered slave food still get better reviews and taste always better no matter what than the food of actually what many consider to be rich modern food or White menus.

Soul food used to consist of all left overs not needed by the masters than put together quickly by slaves. The funny thing is, there once a time when even the food the masters used to eat were cooked by the slaves of course then even the white men's food used to taste good because it used to still be prepared by slaves. Cuban food taste better because they have a bigger sense of embracing their African way of cooking in the kitchen versus those other places that are trying to emulate and imitate the European menu and way of cooking to show they have civilization and class by altering the way of their traditional recipes. Simple White people like Black people's food because they are used to the taste and will always yearn for it, because during slavery their food was better prepared by slaves. Countries where African slaves were, Races, and Ethnic groups whose ancestors were tribal like of African descent and Indigenous Natives descents always know how to cook better than Europeans Franco and Anglo-saxons descents period. Asians do not eat the kind of food you see them selling in their restaurant and as JabaoHaitian have said up there... they have emulated the European way of cooking and integrated it in theirs for marketable purposes and especially since the Orient (meaning Asia which includes South East and West Asians who are today from India to most of the middle East) was invaded by Great Britain major Anglo-Saxons, you see. Those place have menus that reflect the history of their nation as to why they always have two kind of menus. The one they traditionally eat and the one they sell.

So indeed the taste of certain menus or food of certain places are transcending through culture and habits of how traditionally your ancestors used to cook. Once you try to deviate from that by imitating other nations such as those Franco or Anglo-Saxons Europeans and they have infiltrate your land yo will have lost your taste. Dominicans have Trujillo to thank for that who wanted to whiten the Dominican race so they lost their taste along with that campaign due to their xenophobia of not wanting to be Africanized (l l ha h h)!

P.S: There is a reason no matter how much certain people hate Haitians or say what they say about Haitians, but they do not want you to mess with their Haitian food.

Almost world wide the Haitian food has been receiving merit and even people from Denmark, Australia, Louisiana, Florida, New York, Boston, Canada, France and Chicago they are all have this affinity and crave fro Haitian food or at least know of Haitian food. TV shows like THE BILL COSBY SHOW, THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR, THE JAMIE FOXX SHOW and BERNIE MAC SHOW among many other shows like Death Comedy Jam and so forth always talking about let us go get some Haitian food.

Even in the Dominican Republic you will find Restaurants trying to exploit the reputation to make money by calling or claiming their restaurant CRIOLO COMEDA meaning Creole Food. Next to Haitian and African food and along with the rest of the Black Caribbean Countries or Latin Americas of Indigenous descent, the next best thing is Cuban food period.

Actually, Wil, Dominican food have more African components to it than Cuban food. From what I have heard from some Cuban friends (and based on what I have tasted and seen), Cuban food is nearer Spanish food than any other country on the Spanish Caribbean (even going as far as keeping almost the soups that characterize the peninsular food). Due to the fact the Spanish inmigrant community is bigger over there than any other place on the Caribbean (up to a million people, from what I have read), so it's obvious that they have had an impact on the native ways. Also, not even Castro's Revolution have been able to eliminate racism against the people of African descent, so I don't see the reason for your attempting to sugar coat them when comparing their country to the DR.

Dread, when I mention that rice, beans, and stewed meat is the bandera or national dish, I'm speaking based on a DR perspective; In DR "Arroz, habichuelas, y carne guisada" IS the national dish. I'm not speaking on the perspective of what other people from other nationalities in the U.S. think our national dish is. To say that Puerto Ricans have been eating rice, beans, and meat long before Dominicans arrive here has nothing to do with what I was saying. If you want to take it there then Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans and other Caribbean people have been eating rice and beans long before they even came to the U.S. because it is part of the each island's cuisine. Regardless, in my opinion, (let me repeat IN MY OPINION), Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban food is all the same thing. Cubans called flank steak "Ropa Vieja" Dominicans call it "Carne de Falda" it is the same damn thing! Dominicans call rice and beans cooked together Moro, Cubans call it congri, Puerto Ricans call it just plain old arroz y habichuelas but again it is still the same damn thing! Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans all eat 'pasteles en hoja', they eat pernil, they eat empanadas, they eat asopao,. Now, I'm not saying that each island doesn't have their own authentic dishes, because they do. Puerto Ricans have stood out with pernil and arroz con gandules, etc., Dominicans have stood out with their red beans, mangu, and pollo al carbon, etc., Cubans have stood out with their black beans, strong dark coffee, etc., I know for a fact that even though I am Dominican, I can go without any worries to a Puerto Rican or Cuban restaurant and I know I will find the same food that I can find in a Dominican spot (except maybe mangu lol), because like I mentioned before, the three islands litterally eat the same things except for the different names and slight variation of seasoning at times, that's it.