When first
considering Cuba travel, it was to research a cookbook. In the first week that
pipe dream flies out the window. This is a land that lives on sugar, from
tropical fruits and fruit drinks, sodas, sweet cocktails, sweet pastries (fried
dough and sugar), ice cream, sugar-water, coco-ruchos[1]. Seriously,
the sugar load is everywhere. On the streets, in the casas and restaurants, in
shops, on carts. It carries a deep history too, a history of slavery, so
important to the early sugar years of Spanish and US sugar barons[2],
later the Russians. The revolution destroys racism along with classism, and
Cuba enjoys a very mixed society today. Meanwhile I'm jonesing for some greens,
veggies, a potato chip...anything unsweetened.
Beyond the sugar
fixation, I am underwhelmed by my experience of Cuban food. It is usually
over-cooked, over-salted, unimaginative, and boring. Maybe it's a lack of food
choices[3]; a
Cuban friend loads her luggage with spices and cookware when returning home. Still,
being a cook, I'm sure I can turn out different and better-tasting fare from
the same ingredients. It's the sameness that bores me. Same same same,
everywhere: pescado, pollo, or pork (fried or grilled, overcooked, oversalted),
with shredded cabbage and a slice of tomato and cucumber (salad), hard white
rice, dull beans, coffee. Nearly everywhere.
We get in the
habit of ordering breakfast at the casa (usually $3), and for the most part it
is very standard fare: a plate of fresh tropical fruit (banana, pineapple,
mango or papaya), a 'tortilla' - flattened overcooked scrambled egg, bad Cuban
bread (wanna be French baguette that misses by a mile), and strong Cuban coffee
(espresso or with hot milk). I start saving part of my dinners for breakfast or
take to the street, where for $1 cuc I can usually find a great cup of joe and
a pulled pork or grilled jamon y queso sandwich. There is the exception, but
we'll wait for Trinidad.
We duck into Cafe
Neruda on the Malecon one afternoon, the Chilean poet being one of my
favorites. The overcooked fish and overcharging (three times) compete with the
bad food and dull service. Two thumbs down. Pablo, a gastronomist and foodie,
would roll over in his grave. We had been warned (thanks, Conner[4])
to check all bills carefully, as overcharging and mistakes are 'normal'. We
receive two correct bills during our entire stay! We also learn that 'enchilado
langosto' is NOT a lobster enchilada; $3 fried chicken and fries down on the
port can be a great choice; .50 pizza at
the bus station is a steal; and sometimes taking that handout on the corner is
worthwhile - as in Al Medina, an Arab restaurant right off Plaza d'Armas, where
a plate of falafel, dolmas, pita and hummus, fish ceviche, salad, and a mohito
are $6.50. The amazing D'Gala trio serenades as well.
Overall we run
into very few exceptions to dull food - an overpriced veal parmesan (billed as
veal picatta) at an 'Italian' paladar in Varadero, a perfectly-cooked $12 lobster
dinner at Dona Eutemia's in Habana Vieja (their traditional ropa vieja[5] is
superb as well). We take a horse
wagon to Aché, a paladar in Cienfuegos, and are treated to the best grilled
chicken 'complete' meal anywhere. This great experience (from service to food)
is capped off with melt-in-your-mouth coconut flan and an introduction to
carajillo - a rich Cuban espresso with Havana Club aged rum (anejo). Maria's lobster dinner in Puerto
Padre comes with side dishes like beets and carrots, really beautiful rice and
beans, camarones and fried bananas. Yum!
We enjoy another
memorable culinary experience in Trinidad[6] at
Casa Chocolate Y Dailanis, 608 Frank Pais. Definitely our best casa of the entire trip, for
space, comfort, location, and value. Better yet, the husband (Chocolate) is a
chef, formerly of the fancy hotel on the hill. His kitchen is stocked with
herbs and spices, cookware, knives, food processor, fish steamer, pressure
cooker, and other tools of the trade unseen in previous cucinas. His pride and
creativity serve up each morning and evening, as we enjoy all our meals there.
Our first dinner
consists of delicious fish soup, camarones a la casa (shrimp, cooked delicately
in a magical garlic/herb/tomato sauce), luscious rice and beans (we peek into
the kitchen midday as he is seasoning the beans), mashed sweet potatoes (a
welcomed relief from fried yucca), long-bean and tomato salad, little eggplant
divines, fruit salad, tiramisu, coffee - and all in portions large enough to
provide lunch the next day. $7.00
Breakfast is just
as delicious: huevos suprema - eggs, gently scrambled and perfectly seasoned with
red peppers, green onions, and bacon, fruit plate (mangoes are going off in
Trinidad), fruit smoothie, yogurt, ham and cheese plate (sandwiches for later),
and the second best coffee in Cuba. [The best at a little café near Guantanamo,
where the bus stops for a quick break. The espresso is so fabulous, I buy one
for the driver. Fifty cents.]
On our last night
there, Chocolate pulls out all the stops with a large whole parrot fish (caught
that morning on the bay at La Boca), cooked to perfection...and all the sides,
chocolate helados, and coffee. After lucking into Chocolate's cooking, I almost
revive the idea of an island cookbook, but the revival is short-lived. Still he
remains our favorite, just as his casa is.
Let's not forget
the coppelias - state-run ice cream parlors, available in nearly every town,
where ten to twenty cents (in local currency) buys a scoop of creamy coconut,
dark chocolate, fresa (strawberry), and a few seasonal choices of delicious
helados. We remain on the lookout for them throughout our trip. And are
reminded of them at the Cancun airport on re-entry, where a Hagen Daas is $7.50
per scoop!
Trinidad remains
one of my favorite places, in memory as it was in experience. Time stopped around
the mid 1800's in this beautiful classic Spanish colonial town. Bicycles carry
men, women, children, as do pedicabs and cabarello carts. A motorcycle. A rare
car, banned from the centre. Mostly people walk, talk, greet neighbors. A horse
waits, cart filling, while men (Chocolate joins in) load it with chunks of
cement, old bricks, debris from the house shell across from our casa. A remodel
is underway, probably a new casa particulares. Above the rooftops - the Sierra del Escambray mountains, a
sprawling sea on the horizon, clouds dancing. Mango trees dangle hundreds of
ripening orbs. A tangle of electrical wires compete with fluttering laundry on tiled
rooftops, as a man releases dozens of birds just before sunset. They circle and
return.
Early morning, a
man peddles by. "Pain, pain calliente," he sings as door after door
opens along the narrow street for his hot bread. A horse-drawn cart passes
slowly, with chunks of pork and whole chickens loaded on the back. A pedi-cab
features pineapples, stalks of bananas, papaya the size of footballs, baskets
of mangoes. Another has tomatoes and cabbages. On the street, food is delivered
door to door. Neighbors come out to greet each other, welcome the day. Children
walk to school in their red and white uniforms, laughing, happy.
from CUBA NOTES (aka my own rum diaries)
~ a multi-part series about my Cuba impressions
[1] A confection found in Baracoa made of grated
coconut, fruit or chocolate flavored, and sugar-sweetened so severely it can't
be eaten.
[2] By the 1880s over 80% of sugar exports went
to the US, and large island plantations were owned by Americans.
[3] Citizens line up for their food rations:
arroz, frijoles, huevos, sugar, alcohol, tobacco...
[4] Conner Gorry, former US writer, now living in
Cuba. Writes for the government, Lonely Planet, her own blog (Here is Havana: http://hereishavana.wordpress.com/) and has
a fab iPhone app, Havana Good Time, which works even when not online. Two
thumbs up!
[5] Ropa vieja is arguably Cuba's national dish.
Spanish for 'old clothes', it's a well-seasoned shredded beef dish, popular
throughout the country. Think pulled pork. Served over rice or chickpeas, or in
a bun.
[6] Lovely colonial city, tucked between the sea
and mountains, founded in 1514.
