Latin American Cuisine

Latin America, is a highly diverse area that holds cuisine. The Dominican Republic’s gastronomy is predominantly a mixture of Indigenous Taino, Spanish and African background. One of the most important dishes of the dominican breakfast menu, includes the Mangú with the three hits or lo’ tre’ golpe.

Mangú

Mangú is the Dominican breakfast par excellence. It consist of smashed green plantains and, the tree hits which is basically fried: salami, egg and cheese. Some may add aguacate for preference.

Even though no one exactly knows how the name of the dish was originated, there’s two popular myths around it. Many people believe that during the first American occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916), an American soldier tasted the dish and said “man good.”  It is said that when Dominicans heard that they quickly named the dish like they had heard it “mannnnguuu.” Others believe that mangú originated with Africans that were brought to the  the island during the  colonization slave trade. Many say that the original word comes from “mangusi” which refers to any root vegetable that was boiled and mashed, and that mangu is very similar to the West African “foo foo”. This belief is mostly denied due to that many Dominicans omit their African roots; being the first reason more widely accepted.

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