I bore witness to an entertaining and casual argument between two friends. One was a Haitian American who had never been to Haiti and ironically the other was a Dominican American who had never been to the DR. They discussed the similar food that they ate and interestingly enough I also realized that both cuisines are very similar in the ingredients used and the meals which are made. Of course I believe Haitian food is excellent (because I'm Haitian) but I wonder if I am missing out by having never eaten Dominican food or if there really is nothing to fret about seeing as there are many close variations.This made realize that the cuisine of the countries of Hispaniola...although unique in many ways...does not really stand entirely apart from its neighbor and this is a cultural bridge which can be used for better relations. Because we all know how everyone loves food! Both countries use plaintains extensively...commonly eat animal meats such as pork/goat/beef...and have rice and beans (which is eaten almost every day) as a national dish. A (?) means I am not sure whether there is a counterpart or not.
will you soon be managing such restaurant? cuz I think it would be great if there was an all-you-can-eat Buffet full of Haitian/Dominican dish...mmm-hmmm...my mouth is getting watery....
Yes, it is true the Dominican cuisine somewhat bears resemblance to our Haitian cuisine. In the 80's, "El Faro" a Dominican restaurant based at Egleston Station in Roxbury, MA was the favorite spot for most Haitian cab drivers & others because of th "mondongo and arroz con pollo". However, Haitian cuisine was brought to the island by the "Dahomey" tribes (actually Benin).
Haitian and Dominican food is very similar but the preparation is different. The way we prepare food has a French influence; for instance before we cook chicken it goes through a process of being washed with cold and boiling water with lemons and vinegar, then it gets seasoned with herbs, spices and allowed to marinate(trempe). Finally it gets cooked with with the marinade (arose), then allowed to brown before adding tomato paste and more seasonings to form a sauce. That's why the bones even taste good! That one piece of meat literally gets cooked to the bone.
Yes tetcoq...Haitian food bears a more French-esque cooking method while Dominican food is strongly Spanish influenced. However Haitian cuisine (and Dominican as well) borrows the main elements of the three historical ethnic groups that populated the island: derivations from African cooking and tradition...European culinary styles...and native Taino ingredients and technique. Irrelevant to the topic but I must say that I love my fritaille!
Haitian and Dominican food is very similar but the preparation is different. The way we prepare food has a French influence; for instance before we cook chicken it goes through a process of being washed with cold and boiling water with lemons and vinegar, then it gets seasoned with herbs, spices and allowed to marinate(trempe). Finally it gets cooked with with the marinade (arose), then allowed to brown before adding tomato paste and more seasonings to form a sauce. That's why the bones even taste good! That one piece of meat literally gets cooked to the bone.
LOL!! You just described the step by step of cooking chicken in the DR...
Just so you (all) know:
Haitian and Dominican food share more equals than not; mostly because even thus one region was loaded with Africans than the other, at the end the cooking was the same island wide. Save for a round of dishes that came to be due to the crops and available foods to each other, the basics of cooking are one and the same...
The difference of many dishes is the same as why in the DR (just like in Haiti) several regions are known for their unique tastes and concoctions...
Yes Ayiti4XL, Truly speaking, our Haitian bakery goods, pastries, cocktail & juices derived from the French where we use pure vanilla, noyau, extrait de peche, grenadine, nutmeg etc...A reference for all {Ecole Elie Dubois was once #1 Cordon Bleu school in Haiti for young ladies in the cooking field, although there were other specializations}. Our cuisine came from West Africa, specifically Benin (Dahomey). I have been to West Africa and every time I have to find a "Restaurant Beninois" which always serve "ragout, du riz blan or ak pwa , or red bean in sauce, sauce poisson rose or yellow tail etc..and what I enjoy the most is the timbale aluminium (just like Haiti) filled with ice & Kola champagne. All that just like my grandmother's cooking from L'Artibonite... BLAN FRANSE PA KONNEN AN-YEN NAN MANGE NOU AN MEM' MEM' MEM' DITOU DITOU DITOU...
Our cuisine and that of other neighboring countries such as DR and to a lesser extent PR (and perhaps the French Antilles) are all more African influenced than anything else but overall bear the same historical elements. The native food of the Caribbean (including the Anglophone countries) is a melting pot of cultural influence and therefore no European would find Caribbean cuisine the same as theirs (in fact it will always remain radically different and unique).
Haitian and Dominican food is VERY similar I go to this domincan restaraunt and I had sauce pois kongo, riz, banan peze chicken and salad. Basically arroz blanco con guandules, chicharron de pollo y tostones. Chicharron is like griot u can make it with pork chicken or goatits just fried season peaces of meat. The other version of griot is carnitas. One thing though dominicans eat more plantains then we do. They live off that stuff. Mangu and Mofongo are definitley not apart of the haitian cuisine. Haitians mainly fry and boil plantains dominicans do everything with it. They make casseroles with plantains mash it up, mash it up and then fry it. They go crazy with plantains so thats probably the biggest difference.
hence the nickname for the Dominican people...."Platanos". I'm not an expert on their cuisine but aren't chicharrones fried pork rinds? RPichardo...any confirmation? I must admit they do use plantains for a whole lot of dishes which is a difference between theirs and ours. We on the other hand eat almost everything with a variation of beans from the regular pois on our rice to sauce pois on our mais moulen.
