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Papua New GuineaFlavors · the Dominican Republic
Everyday lunch: white rice, stewed beans and stewed meat, with salad and often tostones. The name evokes the colors of the national flag, and rice with beans is a foundation of the country’s culinary identity.
Traditional dish from the Dominican Republic
Also known as: La Bandera, arroz con habichuelas y carne
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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La Bandera Dominicana — the Dominican Republic
La Bandera Dominicana is the lunch that repeats in homes, canteens and small restaurants across the country. Its base is the combination of white rice and stewed beans, a staple on Dominican tables. It’s served with stewed meat—chicken, beef or pork—a salad and often green-plantain tostones.
The name comes from the colors: the white of the rice, the red of the beans and the meat, which would complete the tricolor of the Dominican flag. Scholars note that the strength of the dish lies not in rituals but in how frequently it is eaten and in the ease of preparing it with ingredients available to everyone.
The dish brings together the heritages of Dominican cooking: rice and the sofrito of garlic, onion, tomato and cilantro arrived with the Spanish; the beans and the way of stewing them have African and indigenous roots. Red beans are most common, but some use black or white beans, or substitute guandules.
One debated detail at the table is the concón, the layer of rice that becomes toasted and crunchy at the bottom of the pot. Many Dominicans consider it the favorite part of lunch, and some serve it separately.
the Dominican Republic
Everyday lunch across the country; the Presidency calls rice with beans the Dominican signature dish.
White rice, stewed beans (usually red) cooked with a sofrito of onion, garlic, bell pepper, cilantro and tomato; stewed meat (chicken, beef or pork); salad; and tostones.
For lunch, all on one plate: rice with the beans on top or at the side, stewed meat, salad and tostones.
Everyday lunch, at home and in canteens and home-style restaurants.
Your questions
Because the white of the rice, the red of the beans and the meat recall the colors of the Dominican flag.
White rice, stewed beans, stewed meat, salad and often tostones.
The layer of rice that becomes toasted and crunchy at the bottom of the pot, much appreciated by Dominicans.
Flavors of the Dominican Republic
Sweet cream made from cooked red beans that are mashed and strained, mixed with coconut milk and evaporated milk, sugar, sweet potato, raisins and spices, served with little cookies on top. It is the Lent and Holy Week dessert throughout the country.
Drink made from peels, roots, herbs and spices macerated in a bottle with rum, red wine and honey. It went from a country home remedy to a signature Dominican drink, and the name comes from damajuana, the large glass carboy.
Mashed boiled green plantain mixed with butter or oil, topped with red onion in vinegar. It is the Dominican breakfast par excellence, often served with the tres golpes: fried cheese, salami and fried egg.
Thick broth of assorted meats and tubers such as plantain, cassava, yam and yautía, served with white rice and avocado. In the festive version it includes seven meats. It is part of the national identity and has a history linked to colonial times.
Thin, crispy fried wheat-flour dough, savory, about the size of a plate. It’s the beach snack associated with Boca Chica, and the name comes from the English johnnycake, brought by immigrants from the English-speaking islands of the Caribbean.
Stewed, spicy goat kid meat scented with oregano, ají and garlic, typical of the Línea Noroeste and Monte Cristi. Local belief holds that the region’s goats graze on wild oregano, which seasons the meat even before cooking.
Fresh fish seasoned with lime and cooked in a coconut milk sauce with annatto, cilantro, onion and garlic. It is Samaná’s signature dish, where coconut defines the local cuisine.
Homemade liqueur made from the guavaberry fruit, cooked with spices and mixed with rum, drunk at Christmas. It was brought to San Pedro de Macorís by the cocolos, Afro-Caribbean immigrants who came to work in the sugar mills.
