Cuba

"Cuban recipes share spices and techniques with Spanish cooking, with some Caribbean influence in spice and flavour. Food rationing, which has been the norm in Cuba for the last four decades, restricts the common availability of these dishes." Wikipedia

So many paradoxes to talk about when looking at Cuba. I began with food, which seemed pretty straightforward and ended up with Wikipedia and all its detail about everything else - not the least of which was my opening quote.

So where to begin? Perhaps with the rather lovely photograph above which I suspect is an image we probably all have in our heads of Cuba. Vintage cars, decaying but somehow attractive old buildings, the sea and sunshine, plus a vibrant culture of music and dance. An interesting place to visit my son says.

Interestingly when I looked for photos of Cuba in Google Images they were almost all of various urban landscapes. Which was sort of in line with another Wikipedia statement that Cuba never had vast plantations but was rather more an urbanized culture with small farms and settlements between the towns.

Columbus discovered the island - the largest in the Caribbean and the 17th largest in the world on his 1492 voyage of discovery and claimed it for Spain, naming it Juana. Subsequently it became known as Cuba, but

"The exact meaning of the name is unclear, but it may be translated either as 'where fertile land is abundant' (cubao), or 'great place' (coabana)." Wikipedia

It's political history is complicated, but basically it was first settled 6,000 years ago by peoples from Central and South America. 1,700 years ago the Taino people, the native people of the Caribbean took over, and these were the peoples that the Spanish encountered - and whose numbers were decimated by the Spanish through conquest and disease. The Spanish ruled for centuries until 1898 when it became a protectorate of the USA, regaining it's independence in 1902. 1952 was the beginning of the Batista rule, which ended with the Communist revolution in 1959 and the rule of the Castros - Fidel and then his brother Raoul who finally retired in 2021. The government is still Communist, and the embargo put in place way back in 1958 by the USA is still largely in place, with a few small exceptions.

The paradox of Cuba is that it's a repressive régime, with virtually no freedom of expression and extreme poverty, and yet there is free education for all - compulsory until the age of 15, so literacy is high - well above 90%. The health system is similarly of a very high standard. Cuba has a very high doctor/patient ratio standard and has undertaken much health assistance to undeveloped countries around the world, and done much very highly rated medical research. However, they are struggling to import enough medicines and equipment, and its people are generally in poor health:

"The traditional diet is of international concern due to micronutrient deficiencies and lack of diversity." Wikipedia

And yet the life expectancy of its people is high - 80 for men, 82 for women.

Also:

"The island's persistent shortages of food and medicine can be attributed to the U.S. trade embargo in place since 1962 and stringent government control over the economy since 1959." Wikipedia

Food is rationed. It's a case of everyone trying to somehow obtain sufficient food, which sometimes leads to interesting experiments with growing food in every available space - in empty spaces in cities, on roofs ...

Cuba is situated at the joining of the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico - which I see Google Maps has already named, in brackets, the Gulf of America. It is not very far from Florida or from Mexico. There are 4195 islands and cays in Cuba, but the vast majority of Cuba is the one main island which is mostly pretty flat, with mountains at one end. I read somewhere that the only water source was rainwater, which I took to mean no freshwater at all, but I was wrong as there are some 500 shortish rivers in Cuba. Water is however a problem. The climate is tropical, and the main crops are sugar, tobacco and coffee.

It's also the third most populous island in the Caribbean, but is losing its people to America because of the fairly dire economic status of the country. Most of those emigrants are illegal - both in terms of emigration and immigration. Currently there are some 11 million people in Cuba, with a low birth rate around 1.4 children per family. And, of course, now, because of the less than happy relationship with America, its largest trading partners and allies, are Russia, and, increasingly, China.

Enough of all of that. For those who can afford to eat Cuba's traditional foods - the tourists and the richer, what do they eat?

The influences on the cuisine, are, of course, overwhelmingly Spanish, but with small adjustments. For example the sofrito:

Garlic, onion and green bell pepper are the island nation’s holy trinity at the core of Cuban cuisine." Cuba Candela

In Spain it's garlic, onion and tomato.

Other influences are African - from the slaves, whose descendants still make up a large portion of the population, and Taino, with some French from refugees from Haiti in the 1800s, and various others - Chinese, Italian ... I'm guessing American too, although maybe patriotism and America's rejection has discouraged the eating of American junk food. Not to mention the vast number of intercultural marriages. Indeed I'm sure it's one place in the world where there is no McDonalds. Well there is, but at Guantanamo Bay and it's not available to the Cubans. Guantanamo Bay - another Cuban paradox if ever there was one. Well the Cuban government considers it to be illegal.

Back to the food. The following is a list compiled from a few different sources - with Taste Atlas being one of the main ones. I chose the ones that cropped up all the time.

I'll begin with two cocktails which are favourites world-wide but which come from Cuba - the mojito and the strawberry daiquiri, which is in keeping with that image of Cuba as a party place - an image which is far from reality.

Ropa vieja

This is considered to be the national dish, and consists of slow-cooked tough cuts of meat that is shredded and served with rice and black beans. It's name means 'old clothes' and it comes directly from Spain.

"It’s said that a poor old man had no money to feed his family, so shredded up his clothes and boiled them instead. The man prayed over the pot while it was cooking and when he finally lifted the lid, the concoction had transformed into a mouthwatering meat stew. " Classic Journeys

Vaca frita

The name means fried cow and is a sort of leftover dish from Ropa vieja, in that the shredded meat is subsequently fried. This one is said to come from the Canary Islands where the slaves did the best they could with poor quality ingredients. And once again served with rice.

Moros y cristianos

This is a dish that is found all over the Caribbean - black beans and rice. Well black beans in Cuba anyway, plus the Cuban sofrito of garlic, onion and green pepper, to make it distincively Cuban. I chose this picture because of the touch of green, but I should say that the vast majority of the pictures that I found showed the rice to be much darker in colour. Possibly because of the collapse of the beans that colours the rice. The dish originated in Spain during the time the Moors were in power, of course, with the name referring to the Moors - the black beans, and the Christians the white rice.

Medianoche, although I think this is sometimes called Mixto. The name means Midnight because of the time that this is often served in night clubs in Havana. It's a sandwich made of roast pork, serrano ham, swiss cheese, dill pickles, and mustard. The sandwich is then compressed and toasted, like a cheese toasty. One source said that the sandwich was made with a soft eggy roll, but I suspect that this is not always the case.

Tostones - or tachinos in Cuba according to one site. These areunripe plantains, peeled, sliced diagonally, and then twice fried. After the first deep fry they are smashed and fried again. I'm not sure where I thought plantains came from, but apparently they come from Asia, and were brought to the Americas by the various conquerors of the region. There is much argument about who invented tostones, because they are found throughout the Caribbean. The Dominican Republic is a main contender. Although found all over the Caribbean each country has its own version. I think the Cuban distinction is the Mojo sauce that is often served with them. The dip is made with garlic, sour orange juice - a common Cuban ingredient - olive oil, salt and pepper. And did I mention that the Cubans often sprinkle the Tostones with salt?

Arroz con pollo

Now this is such a universal dish is it not? Chicken and rice. So what makes it Cuban? Well first of all there's the ubiquitous sofrito

- garlic, onions, bell peppers. Then AI and also a few other sites seemed to think that it also requires beer and saffron. Or annatto - one site seemed to imply that annatto was used in Cuba rather than saffron. So who knows really. Peas seemed to be a common component, and the chicken is always shown as skin on, bone in. Cumin, paprika, bay leaves, seem to be common flavourings as well.

A kind of paella they say.

Fricasé de pollo

This one comes from those French refugees from Haiti - well fricassée is a French method of cooking which produces a creamy braised dish. This one has chicken and potatoes in a tomato based sauce, flavoured with that sour orange juice and garlic.

Picadillo

Picadillo is a dish found throughout the Spanish speaking world, and so the obvious source for the dish is Spain, particularly when you find the name comes from 'picar' meaning 'to chop'. The Cuban version is today the most famous one apparently, and it seems to consist of ground meat, tomatoes, olives, raisins, capers with sides of either crispy potatoes or the inevitable black beans and rice.

Flan

For dessert, that European crème caramel kind of thing. In Cuba it is made with

condensed and evaporated milk because milk and cream were sometimes difficult to come by. Sometimes coconut milk is used instead of the evaporated milk.

And to finish Cuban coffee

A small amount of espresso is vigorously whipped to a froth with natural brown sugar - like demerera - and the rest of the espresso is then poured over it. Now who thought of that?

But coffee is tightly rationed, so it's probably only the tourists who get to taste it. And look - not a single fish dish appeared on any of those lists that I found. Which is strange.

Next stop - a short ferry trip to Mexico. Which of course is a huge subject, so I'm not quite sure how I shall manage that.

YEARS GONE BY

May 1 - May Day - the start of spring back in the old UK - not officially, but in the minds of all. Here it's just another day in the increasingly fast progression of the year.

2024 - Omelette at the Savoy

2023 - The many paradoxes of May Day

2022 - Worcestershire sauce

2021 - May Day

2020 - Deleted

2019 - Vine leaves - part two - other things

2018 - Is fresh garlic possible in Australia?

2017 - A sardine update - on Portugal