The first plantain varieties arrived on the island in 1516, brought by Fray Tomas de Berlanga, a priest of the Dominican Order, and were planted in Puerto Plata, as Miguel Angel Monclus cites in his Historia de La Novia del Atlantico.

The plantain comes from South Asia as Musa paradisíaca and its varieties Musa sapientum and Musa cavendishi, belonging to the Musaceae family.

All dishes made with plantain are part of the rich African culinary legacy, whose contribution has been widely studied in our country and across the region. Ruben Silie, in his work Economia, esclavitud y poblacion (1976), states: "The runaway Blacks, called cimarrones, cultivated plantains and prepared them in different ways to feed their families."

Although plantain is known and eaten worldwide, when people talk about it, it is inevitable to think of Dominicans, for whom it is a symbol of identity and even a national brand: "Platano Power." No matter how it is prepared and we have countless ways, we always enjoy it. Among the most popular are fried plantains or tostones, green or ripe, which can be served with salami, meats, stuffed, or as a side dish with rice. Tostones, or fritos verdes, are slices of green plantain that are flattened and fried in oil. In other Caribbean and regional countries they are known as patacon, chatino, or tachino.

Mariano Lebron Savinon, in his work Historia de la Cultura Dominicana (1981), mentions that the term toston appears for the first time in 1588 in the Entremes de Llerena, written by the Dominican priest Cristobal de Llerena.

It is important to note that toston was also the name of certain silver coins, round, irregular in weight, and with a smooth edge, minted by Spain in its overseas territories in the 16th century. The word comes from the Italian testone, used in Milan for certain coins featuring the testa, or head, of kings.

Although the history of the name is not directly linked to cooking or plantains, some researchers argue that, because of the round shape of the coin called toston, it may have been compared to the shape tostones take after being flattened, and the name was thus adopted for this delicious dish, also known as fritos verdes.

There is no doubt, however, that no Dominican can resist a plate of hot, freshly made tostones.