The Lunch a Whole Country Eats

It is just after noon and the street has gone quiet. Shutters are half down. The office you wanted is closed, and the small restaurant beside it is suddenly full.

Ni muda mfupi baada ya adhuhuri na barabara imenyamaza. Milango ya maduka imefungwa nusu. Ofisi uliyoitaka imefungwa, na mkahawa mdogo ulioko pembeni umejaa ghafla.

In the Dominican Republic lunch is the real meal of the day, not dinner. The plate that arrives is white rice, stewed red beans poured over it, and a piece of meat, usually chicken, with a little salad on the side and fried green plantain if you are lucky. It is called la bandera, which means the flag, because the colours on the plate are the colours of the country. People eat it most days of the week and do not get tired of it.

Nchini Jamhuri ya Dominika chakula cha mchana ndicho mlo halisi wa siku, si chakula cha jioni. Sahani inayofika ni wali mweupe, maharagwe mekundu yaliyopikwa yakamwagwa juu yake, na kipande cha nyama, mara nyingi kuku, pamoja na saladi kidogo kando na ndizi mbichi za kijani zilizokaangwa ukiwa na bahati. Huitwa la bandera, maana yake bendera, kwa sababu rangi zilizoko sahanini ni rangi za nchi hiyo. Watu hula sahani hiyo siku nyingi za wiki na hawachoki.

The useful thing to know is the rhythm, not the recipe. If you turn up hungry at three in the afternoon you will find the good places empty and the food gone. Eat when everybody else eats. Then ask for a small strong coffee afterwards, standing up, and go back out into the heat.

Jambo la manufaa la kujua ni mdundo wake, si mapishi yake. Ukifika ukiwa na njaa saa tisa alasiri, utakuta maeneo mazuri yametupu na chakula kimeisha. Kula wakati kila mtu mwingine anakula. Kisha omba kahawa ndogo kali baadaye, ukiwa umesimama, na urudi nje kwenye joto.