12- Food, Family, And Culture

My family I would say is very Dominican we celebrate every holidays that are celebrate in our culture even though we live in the united states the only thing  we don't celebrate is the Dominican Independence Day we do celebrate it don’t get me wrong but not like they do it at D.R. In D.R they do a big festival they dress up and the artifact that they use is call “Diablo Cojuelo” on that day we go where the event take place, most of the time they do it at the park a lot of kids and people get dress up in some type of custom but the most famous one is the Diablo Cajuelo. 

Most of our holidays are related with food we don't celebrate 
thanksgiving on the same day that is celebrated here the New York we celebrated on December 24. On this day my mom don't usually do lunch or breakfast she buy us food apart because she spend the day cooking for the dinner my mom usually  do for dinner a lot of food she cook different type of meat and different type of food, food that she don't basically cook on  normal days. In D.R is very different from here we don’t have a tree with presents we do have a tree but we don't put  presents on it usually for us on that day is for us to give thanks to god for everything and to be in family. My family for example are christian and we have a strong belief and before we eat we read the bible and after we read we pray and give thanks. For us Christmas represents Jesus birth. We actually do something similar like for December 25 when they give out the gift kids in D.R get their gift but on January 6 we celebrate the three kings I remember that I used to leave cookies, milk and candy for Santa Claus so he can leave me my toys the last time I get toys was when I was 10 years old after that I come to New York and I realize that they don’t celebrate that here and I never celebrated again. This pictures are from last year I get it from my uncle in D.R. 

11- Legacy

 In a future when I have my family I do imagine myself preparing and serving my culture food. I think its important for me to continue preparing the food I were born with and raise my kids with those foods because that's what represents where i'm coming from and it's also represents my culture and I don't want my culture and traditions from my family to die with me I want my kids to learn about it so when they get their family they can pass it to their children and it continues for generations. Also I think that a family without a tradition is not a family I think that you should represent where you're coming from and what represent your culture because if you don't have a tradition what culture or tradition  you're going to introduce to your children. I also think that a tradition is what make a family different from every family that's what represent not only where you’re coming from but it also represent your family and how that tradition have been pass from generation to generation.  

10- COMPARISON

 I link to sumaya's blog and for her perfect meal she have Rice, Elish as curry (Hilsa fish curry), Masoor dal (red lentil soup) Pitha(sweet). The only thing with have in common is the rice I had never in my life heard about this type of food. The elish is fish but in some different way I had never taste it like that I had ate fish but in some very different way but I have no idea of the masoor dal. My perfect meal is simple I think that most of the people here in the united state had ate rice beans and meat the only differences is that in DR we eat it almost all of the time for lunch maybe in her country is common because thats the food that represents them. In my country they do eat rice and fish but i’m not sure about the masoor dal there is some cain of soup that looks like that but is call Sancocho but it have more stuff like plantain, corn, different type of meat and some other ingredients to me its look  like Asopao too. Asopao is something like soup but very different is made of rice and meat and is look like a soup but is not is very delicious actually and I think you can made Asopao with beans but I had never eat it like that. I think that her food and my food are very similar in one way or another.

http://sumayearoundtable2014.blogspot.com/2014/05/10-comparison.html

9- A PERFECT MEAL

 The perfect meal in my country would be ARROZ HABICHUELA Y CARNE These are the basic components needed in a full Dominican meal, “arroz, habichuelas y carne” (Rice, Beans, and meat) are typically called “La Bandera” (The flag) due to how close it is to our culture and very foundation just as the Dominican Republic Flag is. While this may not seem like something only made for the Dominican Community, this is something that we all live by, and thats why is part of the Dominican culture and most people on the country eat rice everyday it can be rice with some other cain of meat but the beans would never miss in a dominican plate. A dominican have rice meat and beans in their blood if you come from a dominican family or you were born there you know this is true when kids are little they make then eat beans to the babies as their first food. Rice and beans, the name alone say “Latin”, add meat to it and what else do you need? You got your carbs in the rice, you got the fat and the protein in the chicken, and then you got the fiber in the beans, its like imperfect in the book of Dominican Foods! You could literally live off of this stuff, no exaggeration, this is why it’s a part of the Dominican staples when it comes to meals.

 

8-Preparing My Favorite Dish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAL4_G5amqM

7-How To Prepare My Favorite Dish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8AqPg1C2Yo

6- A Connection To The Past

I interview my mom and my little sister and  I ask then about their experience with Mangu and their opinion about it.

~My mom and sister experience and opinion about Mangu

PREPARATION: First peel the plantain and then you boil it after that, you place it on a bow then you mashed it with butter and a little bit of cold water if you want you can add a little bit of hot water and milk to make it softer. After is mashed you can eat it like that or you can fry some cheese, eggs or/and salami you can also eat it with any topic you want also can cut some onion put it in vinegar for about 5 minutes and then fry it. It’s a nature and easy food to do there is no toxic on it because is made at home and is made of plantains the only thing that contains a little bit of toxic is the butter or it depends in the type of butter you use but otherwise is the most easy food to make if you very hungry and there is nothing to eat also you don't need a lot of ingredients to do it. I had ate Mangu since I were little Mangu is part of our culture. D.R is mostly recognize by our food Mangu, Rice, Meat and beans.

5-Food and emotio

 I remember a time that I was feeling sad because I missed my mom and I really wanted to eat her food because I cain don't like my grandma food even that I appreciate what she do for us  because every day she get from work and she dont even take a minute to seat down she just go directly to the kitchen to prepare the food but that day I was really missing my mom so I remembered that when I went for vacation she teach me how to make a soup so I tried to make the same soup and while I was eating it I start remembering the time we spend together and all she had done for me  my little brother and my sisters and I would say that she is the best mom in the world and she would do anything for us she would sacrifice for her kids and I feel so proud of my mom I would never feel ashame of my mom. I really think that food can affect our emotions in good and bad way for example when I take a nap that I wake up hungry and I find out that they cook my favorite food and then it doesn't taste like I was expecting to tasted I really get mad for that. There are some food that I don't like and when I smell it my stomach start to hurt really badly I also get mad when i'm eating something and I eating it like thats the last food on earth and somebody ask me if they can get some that really get me mad but there is some food that make me think when I was leaving with my family in D.R and like I suddenly start remembering eating the same food with them and how with used to spend time together when eating. I always remember my cousin doing crazy things while we was eating and my grandma arguing with her because she would never listened but it was moments that for me during that time wasn't important at all and now that I had grown up and stop leaving with then are the most beautiful and important memories in my life.

4-The history of my food

 I dont really know the Mangu history and I cant find it either but there is a story that says that during the American invasion of the Dominican Republic (1916), American soldiers would walk into rural towns and the residents would serve them whatever they had for food. On this particular day the soldiers were served with Mangu, one soldier slowly eta the mash plantain savored and said “ Man this is good!” after that all soldiers tried and agreed that in fact, that stuff was good. Since then when serving the dish the town people would present it as mangu because they didn't know what they really mean by "man this is good" and they thought that was the name of the mashed plantain and like people say thats how the name come from. I also were told that the mangu come from african slaves from when there were africans in the country they do something similar to the mangu and they also have a  different name they call it "fufu" also in cuba is known as "fufu de platano" and it have some many names like tacacho or cayeye. I dont think you can find mangu in a typical restaurant it would be at a dominican restaurant or a Hispanic restaurant I had never seen mangu in other places or a american or Chinese restaurant.

3-Community

There aren’t a lot of people from my country in my neighborhood but there are a few people from my country that lives in my building. The holidays from my country, almost all of them are related with food. When there is some holidays they share food with my family like the holy week (Semana Santa) in DR the holy week is very famous by the "Habichuela Con Dulce". In the holy week the take a day for this which is the holy friday and they make this recipe is like sweet beans but in a very different way they first boil the beans and then they add the ingredients I don't know the receipt I only know that at the end you can eat it with some cain of cookies that they use it specially for that or you can eat it with Casave. When it comes to this holy week we get Habichuela Con Dulce from almost all neighbors.


There is a restaurant that I can eat food from my country is call Noche De Copas and one of my favorite dish  from there is “Chicharron De Pollo Con Frito” or (Mofongo) but I always choose Chicharon De Pollo Con Frito. When I go there I love to eat this food because they make the Chicken so delicious and it tastes different from the chicken that my grandma here on the U.S made and I love the fact that the food I'm eating is Dominican and I feel more close to my culture.

2-Memories

I don't remember exactly how old I was when I first I ate my favorite food but I know for sure that I was a baby when I first eaten those food for the first time. I don't remember the last time I eat my favorite food but I do remember the last time I ate Pastelitos. It was on my vacations in DR in summer of 2012. I remember that I had to go by myself because my cousins were watching the novela and it was already night. I would say that my mom and my grandma make the best domplin. I don't know why but they do it in some differently from everybody. It’s like nobody knows how to cook like my mom or grandma. I love the way they cook I would do anything to eat their food right now. I miss their food so much that when I get  to DR I would like my grandma to cook me some white rice with guandules, meat , ensalada rusa and some nature juice I would be the happiest person in the word. I feel so different when I eat my favorite food made by them and like happy because I miss their food so much. Its like I’m so use to eat this food that my dad made here that when I go to my country that I eat my mom or grandma food it taste like I had never eat before. The food from my mom and the food from my dad are so different that when I go to DR I miss it so much that I would not get tired of eating the same food made by her over and over again. There are some cultures that do it different from us and they had many different names but in some way they are similar.

1- My Three Favorite Foods

  Three of my favorite food from my country are Mangu, Domplin , and Pastelitos. I love almost all of my country food but those are my three favorites. I like these foods because since I were a child I had been eating those food and now they are like part of my life and it makes me think about when I was in Dominican Republic.

 

I used to eat Pastelito almost every morning for breakfast with a homemade nature juice this is my favorite breakfast still now a day. Pastelitos are made from different fillings. For the filling you can put meat, cheese, eggs, seafood or whatever filling you want to add. My favorite ty of Ptelisto is “Pastelitos De Carne” ( Patelitos with beef). Pastelitos are also call “Empanadas” you can find this food in many countries with different names and different ways to prepare then.

 

 Sometimes for dinner my mom used to do Mangu, Mangu is like one of the DR culture food. You can eat Mangu for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. You can eat it with meat, eggs, fried cheese and onions or any topic Mangu is basically mashed plantains. Mangu are also call “Los Tres Golpes” (the three hits) meaning mangu with cheese, egg, salami and then fried onions. I don’t think that there is another way of making Mangu I have never heard another name for mangu or that they do it differently. Out of the three foods my favorite one is Mangu because Mangu is one of the food that represents my country, culture and where I'm coming from.                                                                                             

INGREDIENTS FOR MANGU:

• 4 Plantains
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter (may use a butter substitute like margarine)
• 1/2 cup Cold water
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• Fill a pot halfway with water, put on high heat.
• when the plantains are boil you add the butter you have to add the butter when the plantains are still hot then you mashed the plantains and to make it more softer you can add a little bit of water.

 There is many ways that people prepare those food for example the Domplin in the south part we do it differently in the south part of the country they do like a big ball and boiled it and after they are boiled they eat it with other topic or filling. From where I am from they do like a small little ball and they add a lot of stuff while they are been boil. They take flour and place it on a bow then they add salty water then you have to mix the salty water and the flour with your hands you have to do this step until you made a heavy mass and then you take a little piece of the mass and create a small little ball or like a oval shape and place it on the boil water you have to leave it there until the ball is already cook when you think is already done you start preparing the sauce I like Domplin with Chuleta and corn so you start with the Chulete you fry it with its own oil after is fried you add the tomato sauce and the rest of the ingredients after you done with that you add the sauce to the boil water with the little balls and wait a while until they sauce had been mix.   

INGREDIENTS FOR DOMPLIN:

• 1 1/4 cup of flour  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup of water
• chuleta
• corn
• coconut milk
• tomato sauce
• garlic
• celery
• onions
• ( I DON'T REMEMBER THE REST)

INGREDIENTS FOR PATELISTO:

• 1/2 of flour
• oil
• hot water
• salt

FOR THE FELLING:

1 pound of beef

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon cumin

4 cloves garlic

1 medium white onion

1 small green pepper

1/2 cup beef stock

3/4 cup tomato sauce

salt and pepper to taste