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I don't think any country present them as a national identifier and, as a consequence, a source of national pride. They are naturally present in all the countries that were once a part of Spain including places like The Phillipines which is on the other side of the planet. As you imply, the reason for this is that they are of Spanish origin, so the Spnish took it everywhere they went. Now they are readily found in many areas of the United States too, but it arrived with the Latin Americans and in parts of the USA they were there since before they were part if the USA (California is a good example).
Another sweet that is of Spanish origin and is everywhere is dulce de leche. That's one of my favorite sweets.
I enjoy a lot flan, but the first time I ate it I must had been 6 or 7 years old and boy was the taste a dissapointment. It looked so good and then the bomb fell. Apparently its a learned taste of sorts. Now flan tastes sweet and delicious, but then it was bitter. I couldn't take a second bite from what seemed like a nasty and extremely bad tasting "sweet." lol
There are certain dishes of Spanish origin that is presented as a national invention, though they aren't sweet. A perfect example is sancocho, which is a sort of heavy stew that must been eaten while its still hot or warm. The fact that you are sweating while eating the thing in a tropical setting should be a tell tale sign that its a dish originally from a country with colder winters. In the Dominican Republic its present as a Dominican creation and a national identity, but in reality every Spanish-speaking country has their sancocho. Whether its as widely eaten is another story, but that its there, its there. Sancocho isn't a learned taste, you either like it or you don't.
The same with the asopao, which is also called the same in Puerto Rico and in Cuba. The meats in the Spanish Caribbean is mostly from land animals such as beef, but the origin of the asopao actually Valencia, Spain. The meats there is mostly seafood and they call it arroz caldoso.
Another learned taste, though not from Spanish origin, is pasteles from Puerto Rico. Now that is some serious good stuff. I can't pass by someone eating pasteles and if there are none left I will appear with my own fork and ask them for a bite. I'm sorry, you have to learn to share. lol When I first tasted pasteles I was also a kid and didn't liked it, though nothing beats the dissappointment of flan. So its kind of funny that now I think of pasteles and my mouth starts watering. One of the best inventions from Puerto Rico.
Another learned taste is cassave bread, which is the bread of the indians. A person that has never eaten this will taste like cardboard, but I definitely like this stuff. I can definitely see why the Spanish grew tired of it. Its tough to survive on a handful of foods, but depending on cassave to the extent that they did had to be tougher, especially since the first years they couldn't eat the European fluffy white bread. They were introduced to cassave bread by the Taino indians on Hispaniola. Before then no one knew about it except certain indian civilizations in the Americas. The indians themselves didn't know the white fluffy bread which arrived later with the Spanish and now its a household item throughout the Americas. Cassave is good as a companion to certain eats or plates. While I can eat it by itself, even I who loves it have a limit with how much I can consume that thing. Its also one of those things that you either like it or you don't. For example, none of my brothers like it, but I certainly do.
Yummm! I love flan so please do tell who makes it the best.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AntonioR
Another learned taste, though not from Spanish origin, is pasteles from Puerto Rico. Now that is some serious good stuff. I can't pass by someone eating pasteles and if there are none left I will appear with my own fork and ask them for a bite. I'm sorry, you have to learn to share. lol When I first tasted pasteles I was also a kid and didn't liked it, though nothing beats the dissappointment of flan. So its kind of funny that now I think of pasteles and my mouth starts watering. One of the best inventions from Puerto Rico.
Pasteles are of Amerindian origin and eaten on multiple islands and even down to Venezuela.
Yummm! I love flan so please do tell who makes it the best.
Pasteles are of Amerindian origin and eaten on multiple islands and even down to Venezuela.
Pasteles are of Amerindian origin? How? The main ingredient is plantains. There were no plantains/banana plants in the Americas until a Spaniard (some say the Portuguese though there were many Portuguese in the Canary Islands at the time, so technically that is possible) brought the first plants from the Canary Islands to Hispaniola in the early 1500's. From there the plant spread throughout the tropical regions of the Americas as people took them everywhere they went. As far as I know, there was no food inventions from the Indians by the time the Spanish and other Europeans arrived at the continent.
Pasteles are of Amerindian origin? How? The main ingredient is plantains. There were no plantains/banana plants in the Americas until a Spaniard (some say the Portuguese though there were many Portuguese in the Canary Islands at the time, so technically that is possible) brought the first plants from the Canary Islands to Hispaniola in the early 1500's. From there the plant spread throughout the tropical regions of the Americas as people took them everywhere they went. As far as I know, there was no food inventions from the Indians by the time the Spanish and other Europeans arrived at the continent.
Also some African words are used and people don't know they are not in Spanish. For example, party is called fiesta (Spanish) and can (Western African). Some foods have a reminder of Africa, such as banana which are called banana (everyone knows what it means) but the most common word is guineo (reminder of Guinea, a place in Africa from where most Dominicans have part of their genetic origin from). There is also a type of chicken that's called guinea, but I think that's their actual name in Spanish. I'm not entirely sure on that though.
But it remains a mistery how can Native peoples invent any food when its main ingredient wasn't available before the arrival of the Spaniards.
Last edited by AntonioR; 01-19-2021 at 10:58 AM..
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