Salami - A Staple Food in the Dominican Diet

Anybody who has lived in the Dominican Republic will know salami is a staple food and in the basket of groceries (canasta) used to assess food inflation. It is prominently displayed in sections of supermarkets and colmados.

But it is a processed meat and IARC has now reached the conclusion that processed meat causes colorectal cancer, in the same vein that it has confirmed smoking and asbestos causes lung cancer.

The popular food that 'causes' cancer - responsible for thousands of cancer deaths a year

IT IS fiendishly difficult to draw causal links between diet and cancer because many factors can influence cancer risk. However, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - the specialised cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO) - has concluded that a popular food "causes" cancer and it's responsible for thousands of deaths every year.

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/he … essed-meat

........One of the worst risk factors for cancer is processed meat consumption, warns the WHO's specialist cancer agency the IARC.

The IARC Working Group concluded that eating processed meat "causes" colorectal cancer........


So where are the health warnings to the population here? It will be a tough sell.

Salami is such an easy and cheap option in DR and there are many who eat salami and bread rolls for breakfast every day.

I am assuming the meat and fat that goes into salami is pressure sucked off the meat carcasses and gets added salt and preservatives for taste and preservation.

Mind you the traditional breakfast in the UK used to be (and still is for many) eggs, bacon, sausages, beans, mushrooms, black pudding and toast. Big difference years ago was that bacon was freshly back cuts at the butchers and sausages were prepared in the butcher's premises without adding preservatives, water etc.

The message has got out in western nations that eating factory poroduced bacon, sausages, hot dogs and ham and even processed burgers are potential carcinogens. But now it is officially confirmed and perhaps there will be government health warnings displayed like on a packet of cigarettes?

I am not a fan of local salami when offered with tostones. But chirozo occassionally as a tapa - yes.

Eating an abundance of red meat has also been linked (but not confirmed as yet) with colorectal cancer but for many Domincans that is something out of their budgetary reach.

Thanks for the advisory, but It tastes awesome.  I love it.  As a  FIRST  WORLD precaution however, I buy Don Pedro, only the good stuff.  I also recommend that greasy fried cheese (QUESO MARTE) for those of you who mostly live safely among other expats, you just can't go wrong. :lol:

Enjoy - but you like fried cheese :o ?

.......but expats can choose.......most locals have no option.

Colorectal cancer kills the same number in DR as covid annually - the third most lethal cancer in DR.

Interesting. Thanks for this.  Remember a few years ago the scandal over how salami was made!   I rarely have eaten it here and now for sure not touching it!

Not salami as in Italy...It's like bologna

Our first contact in the DR with pepperoni pizza and we sat and stared at it for a few minutes. It did look like what we would call salami. Its probably pretty much all the same though, with the spices  being different.

I suspect the pizza companies are using imported pepperoni - but that is still a processed meat. As noted I do like a chorizo for tapas or cooked in red wine occasionally -  https://spanishsabores.com/chorizo-al-v … to-recipe/

A big Dominican manufacturer is Induveca:

https://induveca.com.do/productos/

'angelx' vouches their Don Pedro product.

Had a quick look at the ingredients on their super especial salami which is eaten by workers for breakfast - and a snack for the dog.

25% fat
15% clorestorol - not sure what that means percentage wise
it says 45% sodio
26% proteinas

- deserves a pass

Wow, the only good there is the protein.

We used to use a phrase in project management...."it is sausage making", meaning you want the end product, but you don't want to witness it being made.

When I go to Philly, I eat the cheesesteak with a blessed feeling on my face, perhaps that's why I enjoy the experience.
Just feel blessed and enjoy. After all, how do you know what you're reading is even true, especially since for almost two years we've been told by scientist and physicians on how to cure a pandemic, and they were all wrong. Food for thought.

angelx wrote:

When I go to Philly, I eat the cheesesteak with a blessed feeling on my face, perhaps that's why I enjoy the experience.
Just feel blessed and enjoy. After all, how do you know what you're reading is even true, especially since for almost two years we've been told by scientist and physicians on how to cure a pandemic, and they were all wrong. Food for thought.


Off-topic, but I don't think there was every a purported "cure" for the pandemic. It is a matter of managing the disease, and that was the guidance put forward (e.g. masks, distancing, serums, etc.). A percentage of people simply never wanted to follow the guidance or, more simply, not wanting "the man" telling them what to do; therefore, the disease has predictably spread.

There are no real cures for cancers other than radiation treament and surgery - or lifestyle changes. And bowel cancer is a rough one affecting a daily human process.

Now most Dominicans have no choice and have to eat cheaply and that is the tragedy. Cured meats have been strongly linked with bowel cancer for a long time through high incidences of use and effect, and are now officialy confirmed to be a cause of cancer. Equal to the cancer link given for smoking and exposure to asbestos so that is a big change in status and advice surely?

Most expats have chosen a beach area location to live and what could be better than to increase fish into your diet along with the abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables available of which many are near organically produced? Surely one of the big pluses for DR?

I have no problem with angelx making his life choice and enjoying it - yes fat and salt in meat and meat derivatives give flavour - but perhaps in this new found knowledge could pass the information on to less fortunate Dominicans?

I'm just trying to keep this SALAMI THREAD going... :)

Let's stay in topic please.  This is NOT a covid thread.  It's about salami.

Don't panic planner, it's ok, everything is going to be ok. This is only about salami. Don't you worry.

Angelx  keeping us on topic is part of what I do.

I'm sorry. Guilty as charged. I even wrote "off-topic" on my post. I guess some things I just can't let slide by.
Back to the subject.....

I enjoy history, especially when it's full of twists and turns

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/2017 … kfast-meat

The BBC have written an absolute cracker of a piece

Fred wrote:

I enjoy history, especially when it's full of twists and turns

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/2017 … kfast-meat

The BBC have written an absolute cracker of a piece


Fred, thank you for posting this very interesting article about salami, the DR and Sosua roots.

RockyM, we have MINDERS on this platform—even on subject like “salami.”

Rocky - no worry, it happens,  my role is to get things back on track.   Angelx  - this seems to be an issue for you!   read what you agreed to when you signed up.   I dont make the rules. I try to keep people on track so when you are looking for something its actually what you are looking for!

Fred - great article,  thanks!

And remember, it was a family of those invited Jews who started a Sosua dairy business... milk, butter, etc
It sold not that long ago for $250,000,000....

Not bad - 1950-ish to 2018-ish..... 1/4 billion dollars

Planner, respectfully, I'm not looking for you to correct the salami conversation. Correcting conversations IS AN ISSUE FOR YOU.  It's like being around a hall monitor.

Clearly you don't understand my role. I am the moderator and it's my JOB to do that!  I keep things on track on behalf of the owner!!!!  Read what you agreed to and you might understand. If that is unacceptable you are free to go elsewhere.

It's just really creepy how you're trying to moderate the salami conversation.  You should consider that you may be over policing.   :cool:

Stop arguing with me. I explained it. You don't like it, it's over.  Get over it.  I will moderate every thread here and do what I am supposed to do

Thanks for sharing this information. I grew up eating salami and I just hope the lifestyle changes I have made in the last 20 years are enough to not be affected by what I ate as a child. My very very healthy uncle was diagnosed with stomach cancer around the holidays. We all think it's related to stress given he lives a healthy lifestyle, but I can't help but think that processed meats (eaten for probably about 30 years) have something to do with his diagnosis. As soon as I found out what is in salami and other processed meats, I stopped consuming them (around the time I moved to the US in my late teens). I have to say my family (on my father's side) was well off and we still ate salami for breakfast or dinner at least a couple of times a week. So for some Dominicans it's not about not having the resources but not having the knowledge about how harmful processed meats are. I wish the government would make an effort to pass along this information, especially given the very high percentage of deaths caused by stomach/colon cancer in the country.

Planner - we really appreciate you as a moderator. Not only do you make sure things  stay on topic, but you share with us your knowledge and experience on a daily basis. Thanks for that and keep up the great work!

It is sad to read of someone being diagnosed with stomach cancer becuase it can be painful and incomfortable. I wish your uncle luck.

I lost a very good friend and business colleague in 2020 to bowel cancer after two years of the very best treatment could buy and countless hours of chemotherapy and operations to remove infected areas of his gut. He was from Alabama but lived in Singapore and was an avid red meat eater including processed meats and often bbqed.

I was brought up on the traditional British breakfast but with porridge too. I often think about all the bacon and sausages I have eaten when young but the knowledge they were bought from the butcher who cut the back bacon fresh and stuffed the sausages daily too.

We rely too much on processed foods imo and I try hard to persuade my wife and her family to cut out many of the foods including salami that they enjoy so much and which includes excess frying and unsaturated fats.

Education is important on the importance of good diet but the likes of salami is in the basic basket of foods and without improving the earnings and buying power of the bulk of Dominicans, the continuation of eating cheaper processed food will continue.

I am very sorry about your uncle!  And thank you for the nice words.

Agree it's not just a out financial ability but also education.  And too many just don't want to change a habit even for their own health.

Thanks! My uncle is heading to Colombia next week to get surgery. We pray he will recover but we know it is a very invasive type of cancer.  He has decided not to do chemo. We will see what happens. I hope this brings awareness to family and friends.

Thanks planner! And you are right, it is hard for people to change bad habits. Smokers are a perfect example.

I have stories as well about Dominican Salami (vs the Italian version) .  Thankfully , my wife will no longer buy it nor eat it.  She have given up the Dominican version permanently so I never have to see it again.