- Thread starter mainer
- Start date
"Let Them Eat Yucca"
"A lie that should not be allowed to live"
The English translation of the editorial below which appeared in DR1 News today reflects the big lie that our peasant president and our confused historians have about the history of bread in DR. This is what the editorial says(translation)
"Today?s editorial in the Diario Libre supports the President?s idea, saying that, years ago, the basic breakfast of the Dominican family did not even include bread. ?There are options, and nearly all of them better than the poor-quality breads that sell today for RD$2.00 each. We?ll eat better and cheaper,? said the editorialist.
Bread has replaced plantains, yucca and other tubers as a main staple in the Dominican diet, due to its convenience and to the increased cost of cooking brought about by the government?s elimination of the subsidies to the cost of propane gas."
While it is true that our native indians who populated the island prior to Spanish colonization ate fruits and vegetables, and prepared yucca in their different forms, including cassava, once Spanish technology, knowledge, culture and religion came bread became an everyday staple of our diet. Bread, being a part of our Catholic upbringing was not only a necessity, but a religious symbol of the Catholic ritual. "The family breaks bread".
But most recent history tells us that Trujillo over 60 years ago established the school breakfast for every child in our public schools consisting of "bread, yellow cheese and a bottle of what is known today as Yahoo Chocolate Drink, although it was a Dominican concoction. Trujillo was no fool. He increased his popularity with young people by using the most popular food in our diet...bread. No Dominican home in memory has lived without bread. Bread was even distributed and sold by bread salesmen in sisal bags just off the oven and people enjoyed eating warm bread on the spot. In fact, family members would fight over such delicacy.
When I was a child and even today, after having become a gourmet eater, I cannot dispense without the typical Dominican quick breakfast....a large cup of coffe(pozuelo) with coffee and lots of sugar. You wet the bread in the coffee and eat it real sweet. Dominicans even add butter for a salty flavor. This is the most appealing breakfast ever created.
While many Dominican still eat mangu, mashed potatoes, yucca, batata, ?ame and yautia for breakfast, most of those are in the countryside where time stays still in the early mornings and they work at their own pace. But reality tells us we live in a modern society where time is our enemy. Anybody who has time to eat a full breakfast of mangu de platanos with salami, eggs and the rest either has a cook, lots of available time or a discipline for waking up early enough and plan the whole thing. And there is no comparison in terms of cost. You can have a bread breakfast from $2 pesos eating bread by itself to at most $5 pesos including coffee and butter. But Hippos breakfast cannot be had for less than $15 to $20 per person, in addition to time.
Now the whole argument should be the cost and the editorial at the end tells the reality of the situation.
TW
The English translation of the editorial below which appeared in DR1 News today reflects the big lie that our peasant president and our confused historians have about the history of bread in DR. This is what the editorial says(translation)
"Today?s editorial in the Diario Libre supports the President?s idea, saying that, years ago, the basic breakfast of the Dominican family did not even include bread. ?There are options, and nearly all of them better than the poor-quality breads that sell today for RD$2.00 each. We?ll eat better and cheaper,? said the editorialist.
Bread has replaced plantains, yucca and other tubers as a main staple in the Dominican diet, due to its convenience and to the increased cost of cooking brought about by the government?s elimination of the subsidies to the cost of propane gas."
While it is true that our native indians who populated the island prior to Spanish colonization ate fruits and vegetables, and prepared yucca in their different forms, including cassava, once Spanish technology, knowledge, culture and religion came bread became an everyday staple of our diet. Bread, being a part of our Catholic upbringing was not only a necessity, but a religious symbol of the Catholic ritual. "The family breaks bread".
But most recent history tells us that Trujillo over 60 years ago established the school breakfast for every child in our public schools consisting of "bread, yellow cheese and a bottle of what is known today as Yahoo Chocolate Drink, although it was a Dominican concoction. Trujillo was no fool. He increased his popularity with young people by using the most popular food in our diet...bread. No Dominican home in memory has lived without bread. Bread was even distributed and sold by bread salesmen in sisal bags just off the oven and people enjoyed eating warm bread on the spot. In fact, family members would fight over such delicacy.
When I was a child and even today, after having become a gourmet eater, I cannot dispense without the typical Dominican quick breakfast....a large cup of coffe(pozuelo) with coffee and lots of sugar. You wet the bread in the coffee and eat it real sweet. Dominicans even add butter for a salty flavor. This is the most appealing breakfast ever created.
While many Dominican still eat mangu, mashed potatoes, yucca, batata, ?ame and yautia for breakfast, most of those are in the countryside where time stays still in the early mornings and they work at their own pace. But reality tells us we live in a modern society where time is our enemy. Anybody who has time to eat a full breakfast of mangu de platanos with salami, eggs and the rest either has a cook, lots of available time or a discipline for waking up early enough and plan the whole thing. And there is no comparison in terms of cost. You can have a bread breakfast from $2 pesos eating bread by itself to at most $5 pesos including coffee and butter. But Hippos breakfast cannot be had for less than $15 to $20 per person, in addition to time.
Now the whole argument should be the cost and the editorial at the end tells the reality of the situation.
TW