“HAVING MY GRANDMOTHER HERE… SHE PASSES DOWN CERTAIN TECHNIQUES OR CERTAIN TRICKS… SHE’LL TELL ME ‘I DID THIS WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, YOU SHOULD DO THIS.’ SHE’S PASSING HER CULTURE TO ME.”
— DELIANA
DOMINCAN CUISINE: A GLOBAL PLATE
Maria holds Delia in the Dominican Republic in 1981.
Deliana is learning to cook food in the way that her mother Delia and her grandmother Maria cooked in the Dominican Republic. In Providence, they come together to make bistec encebollado (steak with onions) and arroz con gandules (rice and pigeon peas). These dishes are part of the Dominican Republic’s vernacular cuisine, primarily comprised of recipes passed down orally. The country’s cuisine is a blend of several different cooking practices including indigenous, Spanish, and African flavors and techniques.
The Alcantara family identifies as Latina and recognizes the African influences in the foods they make. The pigeon peas used in the arroz con gandules are found in many West African dishes, a region where many descendants of enslaved Dominicans can trace their ancestry. Deliana’s favorite part of the dish concón, the burnt rice at the bottom of the pot, mirrors kon kon, a similar Nigerian dish. In their daily preparation of Dominican food, the Alcantara women bring varied flavors and food histories together on one plate.
Join the women of the Alcantara family, Maria, Delia, and Deliana, as they prepare bistec encebollado y arroz con gandules in their home kitchen.
