Here in my town, we have “colmados,” which are small corner stores that sell just the essentials: eggs, oil, rice, sugar, flour, oats, milk, basic produce, etc., and a few people who sell prepared foods (like fried chicken) out of their homes. Aside from that, there are no supermarkets or sit-down restaurants, and most definitely no fast food chains or Uber Eats. For that reason, a lot of the food is prepared in a much "fresher" way than what we're used to in the U.S.
More than anything, I’ve appreciated being able to consume food that is real and grown/raised locally. All of the produce I consume is from the mountains I can see from own window of my house, all the seafood I consume is from the ocean I can see from the other window of my house, and all the meat I consume is from the livestock in the town over! When I move back to the US, I will definitely think twice about buying processed foods with long ingredient lists, though I will NOT hesitate to keep icecream in my freezer!
Check out my TikTok "What I eat as a Peace Corps Volunteer living in the Dominican Republic" here: https://www.tiktok.com/@tenders13/photo/7352387678874422574?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7483147983375599110
