From my experience so far, breakfast is the same, but lunch and dinner are very different here in the Dominican Republic. For lunch, we all eat together at noon, and it is the biggest meal of the day. My lunch is usually rice, beans, chicken or pork and salad. For dinner, I usually eat by myself, and it is the smallest meal of the day. My dinner is either mangú (boiled plantains) with queso frito (fried cheese) or salami (sausage), yuca (vegetable), empanadas (pastry baked or fried), a ham and cheese sandwich or leftovers from lunch. At home in the U.S., it is the complete opposite. For lunch, I eat a salad or a sandwich as I am going from class to class. For dinner, I eat rice, beans and so on with my family or friends. So as you can see, it was a change, but it was not very difficult. The only thing that I am really struggling with is the lack of sweets in my host family’s house. I cannot find any ice cream or chocolate anywhere!
For the most part, the food that I eat here is the food that I eat at home in New York. But I did try mofongo (plantains and yuca) for the first time yesterday! My mom and sister love mofongo, but I was always nervous to try it because it is a mix of things.
