Cuban comfort food

What is Cuban Food?

Cuban food has much in common with other Latin American cuisines, all of which evolved from three very different food cultures: the foods and ingredients the Spanish (and to a lesser extent Portugal and other European Countries) brought when they came to Latin America for territory and Gold; The vegetables, fruits, legumes, and other foods that were indigenous to the Caribbean and Latin America; and from the ingredients and foods African slaves brought back with them.
 
So when you think of Latin American food, you think of largely rice-based dishes, with meats that are slow cooked with deep and rich flavors, often accompanied by black or red beans, plantains, and many root vegetables like Yuca, Malanga, Boniato (a type of sweet potato). It’s a beautiful intermingling of the ingredients, and food cultures of Europe, Africa, and Latina American and the Caribbean. 

Cuban food is unique in that the influence of the Spanish is much more prevalent than in other Latin American countries. In fact, there is a huge overlap between the food cultures of Spain and Cuba. Both cuisines revolve mostly around slowly cooked dishes that yield deep and rich flavors.

You can think of it as Cuban comfort food. In both cuisines, pork plays a central role, such as “Pernil” or roast pork, which is pretty much the national dish of Cuba. Both cuisines also use a variety of pork products such as Spanish Chorizo, a dry cured, and sometimes smoked sausage, laced with Pimenton (Spanish paprika) and garlic. Chorizo is a bit of national obsession in Spain and plays a central in Cuban food as well. Other ingredients and dishes that are central to both cuisines is Serrano Ham (a cousin of the Italian Prosciutto), Bacalao (Salt Cod), and the heavy use of onions, peppers, garlic, and olive oil (when cooked together is called “Sofrito”) as well as sour oranges (Naranja Agria) as central flavoring agents.

On top of this layer of Spanish ingredients is a tremendous array of fruits and vegetables that thrive in the temperate conditions of the Caribbean. There’s guava, mangos, pineapples, citrus, and several other fruits that are mostly prepared into desserts and shakes (Mamay, Guanabana, & Parchita). Then there’s Sugar Cane, and it’s most beautiful manifestation in the libation known as rum.