page_title: Jíbaro (Puerto Rico)
section_title: Food
hierarchical_section_title: Jíbaro (Puerto Rico) / Food
caption_attribution_description: English: Fried plantains "tostones" Español: Platanos tostones
context_page_description: Jíbaro is a word used in Puerto Rico to refer to the countryside people who farm the land in a traditional way. The Jíbaro is a self-subsistence farmer, and an iconic reflection of the Puerto Rican people. Traditional jíbaros were also farmer-salesmen who would grow enough crops to sell in the towns near their farms in order to purchase clothing, etc., for their families.
  In contemporary times, both white-collar and blue-collar Puerto Ricans are identifying themselves as jibaros in a proud connection with their Puerto Rican history and culture in general.
context_section_description: Plantains were the jibaro's "daily bread", and its mature fruit could serve as bread and the unripe fruit could be eaten roasted or baked. Many other foods are derived from plantains, including today's mofongo, maduros, and tostones, and plantains are also a base ingredient in pasteles.
  Much of what is commonly considered authentic Puerto Rican food today actually had its roots in the foods typically prepared and consumed by the jíbaro Puerto Rican of the mountain countryside. "mountains in the countryside, authentic food and jíbaro music go perfectly together." The Jíbaro mode of preparation also differed from how today's authentic Puerto Rican foods are prepared, as Jíbaros prepared their food making regular use of stone stoves and rod-grilled (known as a la varita). 
  Some of the more common traditional dishes are Asopao (a thick soup of rice and chicken), pasteles and mofongo. Some jíbaro songs tell of jíbaros  consuming "viandas and bacalao" as one of their daily staples. When jibaros settled on coastal town, some variations of their original foods developed, for example, asopao was then also made with seafood instead of chicken. Plantain, a common cultivar in the jíbaro residential fincas (farms), was the basis of various dishes or side dishes, such as tostones.
caption: The traditional jibaro tostones on a contemporary ceramic dish
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