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Puerto Rican

Many Puerto Ricans have come recently to the large cities of the eastern United States. They are frequently poor, lack employment skills, and live in crowded, often unsanitary, quarters. Because of difficulty in speaking and understanding English, they are likely to patronize small food stores that are owned by Spanish-speaking people. They usually pay much more for the foods they purchase than they would in a supermarket. These and other factors account for a high level of malnutrition, especially among children.

Their staple foods include rice, chick peas, kidney beans, and other legumes, and a variety of viandas or starchy vegetables, such as plantain, green bananas, white sweet potato, and others. Dried codfish is often used. Although milk, chicken, and pork are well liked, they are infrequently used because of cost.

Fruits and vegetables have always been available to them in abundance, but they have made limited use of them.

Rice (arroz) is eaten once or twice a day and may be combined with a little codfish, legumes, and occasionally chicken (arroz con polio) or pork. The legumes are usually cooked and dressed with a highly seasoned tomato sauce (sofrito). The starchy vegetables are boiled and served with oil, oil and vinegar, or some dried codfish.

Mexican

The staple foods of Mexicans include corn, pinto or calico beans, and chili peppers; wheat is now replacing some of the corn. Milk is seldom used, and meat and eggs appear on the menu only two or three times a week. Mexican dishes are seasoned liberally with red chili powder, garlic, onion, and spices.

Dried corn is heated and soaked in lime water, washed, and pounded to putty-like dough called masa. Thin cakes rolled from the masa and baked on a hot griddle are known as tortillas. Cheese and ground meat with onion and lettuce may be used to fill tortillas in preparations known as enchiladas. Tamales consist of highly seasoned ground meat and masa wrapped in corn husks steamed, and served with chili sauce. Chile con came is a favorite meat and bean dish.

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GENERAL HEALTH