Your Coworker Is Not Dominican Just Because She Loves the Beach: Myths We're Tired of Correcting

Every Dominican in the United States has a story about the moment they had to become a walking encyclopedia. Mine happened in a break room in New Jersey, when a coworker looked at my lunch — arroz, habichuelas, pollo guisado — and said, "Oh, you're Mexican?"

I love Mexican food. I am not Mexican. And thus began the conversation I've now had roughly 400 times.

So consider this a public service announcement, delivered with all the patience of someone explaining for the fifteenth time why the Dominican Republic is not, in fact, "basically the same as Puerto Rico."

Myth #1: "Isn't Dominican Just Reggaeton and Salsa?"

Deep breath. The Dominican Republic gave the world merengue and bachata. These are ours. Merengue is fast, brassy, and built for joy. Bachata started as the music of the margins — literally banned from radio and respectable society for decades — before conquering the planet (we've covered that underdog story before).

Salsa? Beautiful, iconic, but Puerto Rican and Cuban in its modern form. If a dance floor is playing "Quimbara," that's not our moment. If "Burbujas de Amor" comes on and abuela starts swaying — that's us.

Myth #2: "It's All Inclusive Resorts, Right?"

Punta Cana is gorgeous. It is also roughly as representative of Dominican daily life as a hotel lobby is of the United States. The real DR is colmados blasting music into the street, dominoes slammed down like verdicts, roadside yaroa at midnight, and a river swim on a Sunday. The resort is a postcard. The country is a novel.

Myth #3: "Caribbean = All the Same Thing"

The Caribbean is not a monolith — it's dozens of nations with distinct languages, histories, and kitchens. Jamaican jerk chicken and Dominican pollo guisado share an ocean, not a recipe. Dominican food is its own archive: Taíno roots, Spanish colonization, African influence, and a mountain of white rice that functions as both side dish and spiritual anchor.

Which brings us to the food misconceptions, because yes, someone once asked if we eat "island food, like, coconuts only?"

The Food Edition of This Conversation

• La bandera dominicana — rice, beans, meat — is the daily flag, not a special occasion dish.
• Mangú is not "just mashed plantains." It's breakfast, it's identity, and it comes with Los Tres Golpes or it comes with judgment.
• Pasteles en hoja are holiday royalty. Do not confuse them with tamales in front of my mother.
• Morir soñando is the superior beverage and I will not be taking questions.

Myth #4: "You Don't Look Dominican"

Dominicans look like... Dominicans. We are Black, white, tan, indigenous-descended, and every combination in between. There is no single phenotype, and telling someone they don't look like their nationality says more about your assumptions than their reality.

Your Homework, Dear Reader

If you're second-generation and reading this nodding along: share your correction story. The teacher who called your Spanish "Mexican Spanish." The date who asked if you grew up in a resort. The coworker who now, thanks to you, says "¡qué lo que!" with unearned confidence.

And if you're not Dominican? Great news — the fix is delicious. Make the rice. Learn the difference between merengue and bachata. Visit beyond the resort gates. The culture is not a mystery; it's an invitation.

We'll save you a seat, a plate, and — eventually — the second bowl.