50 Fun Facts About Cuban Food

Cuban cuisine is largely based on the cooking of which country?

Amerindian, African and other Caribbean influences were layered on top, with a small Chinese influence around Havana.

What does "Moros y Cristianos" literally mean?

The black beans are the Moors and the white rice the Christians, a nod to the centuries of Muslim rule in Iberia.

What distinguishes Moros y Cristianos from plain arroz con frijoles?

Congrí is the related name, used more often for the red-bean version eaten in eastern Cuba.

In Cuba, congrí most commonly refers to rice cooked with which legume?

That version is traditional in the eastern part of the island.

What does "ropa vieja" literally mean?

The name may come from leftovers or from the tattered look of the shredded beef.

Immigrants from where are believed to have brought ropa vieja to Cuba?

It was first reported cooked in Cuba in 1857 and is now counted as a national dish.

Among which community did ropa vieja's slow-cooked ancestor first arise?

It began as a Shabbat stew called handrajos before spreading to North Africa and the Canaries.

During which era did ropa vieja largely vanish from ordinary Cuban tables?

After the Soviet Union fell, beef was scarce; the dish returned with legal paladares in 2010.

In which two Florida places did the Cuban sandwich likely originate?

Both were early Cuban immigrant communities built around the cigar industry.

Which ingredient divides the Tampa and Miami versions of the Cuban sandwich?

Tampa adds Genoa salami, probably thanks to Italian neighbours in Ybor City; South Florida leaves it out.

What is the sandwich press used to toast a Cuban sandwich called?

It is like a panini press but with no grooves, so the bread comes out flat and crisp.

Which historian said the Cuban sandwich was "born in Cuba and educated in Key West"?

Researcher Andrew Huse, by contrast, calls the modern version "an original Tampa creation".

Which cigar manufacturer founded Tampa's immigrant quarter in the mid-1880s?

Tens of thousands of Cuban, Spanish and Italian workers followed, turning Tampa into a city.

What fat does Cuban bread contain that sets it apart from French bread?

The loaves are long and somewhat rectangular, with a thin papery crust and flaky centre.

What do traditional bakers lay on Cuban bread loaves before baking to score the crust?

The moist frond leaves a shallow trench in the top crust and is removed before eating.

Which 1896 Ybor City bakery was probably the first in the U.S. to sell Cuban bread?

Customers drove a nail into the door frame so the delivery man could hang the morning loaf on the porch.

What is a medianoche sandwich made on instead of the usual long Cuban loaf?

The name means "midnight", after its popularity in Havana night clubs in the small hours.

The Elena Ruz sandwich pairs turkey and cream cheese with what?

It is named for the Havana socialite who talked the El Carmelo restaurant into putting it on the menu around 1930.

What does the name picadillo come from?

Cuban picadillo adds olives, capers and often raisins to the ground beef.

Which two briny ingredients are typical of Cuban picadillo?

It is often served over white rice or used to stuff papa rellena and empanadas.

What are tostones?

Green plantains are fried, flattened in a tostonera, then fried again until crisp.

By what local names are tostones also known in Cuba?

Patacones is the word in Ecuador, Panama and Colombia; bannann peze in Haiti.

What citrus traditionally goes into Cuban mojo sauce?

Mojo marinates roast pork and is a dip for plantain chips and fried yuca.

Where did mojo sauce originally come from?

Heavy Canarian emigration carried it across the Caribbean and to Mexico.

What does "vaca frita" literally mean?

It is fried, shredded skirt or flank steak topped with sautéed onions and lime.

What is a frita?

Topped with shoestring fries on Cuban bread, it survives mainly in South Florida and is reportedly forgotten in Cuba itself.

Cuban ajiaco is a hearty stew built on what?

Ethnologist Fernando Ortiz used the stew as a metaphor for Cuba as a melting pot.

Former Cuban president Alfredo Zayas said "ajiaco" derives from which Taíno word?

In Camagüey the San Juan festival opens with the making and serving of ajiaco.

Which five ingredients make up a classic mojito?

The mint should be bruised with a muddler to release its oils, never shredded.

Which mint is most commonly used for mojitos in Cuba?

Mentha × villosa has a light minty-citrus aroma; outside Cuba stronger spearmint usually stands in.

Which Havana bar did Hemingway supposedly make famous with his scrawled mojito endorsement?

"My Mojito in La Bodeguita, My Daiquiri in El Floridita" is on the wall, though biographers doubt he wrote it.

Which English privateer is sometimes credited with the mojito's ancestor, "El Draque"?

That early drink used aguardiente de caña and, in the Drake version, brandy.

What is a mojito without alcohol called?

A cojito adds coconut, and a dirty mojito uses gold rum and raw sugar.

Who is widely credited with inventing the daiquiri around 1898?

Daiquirí is also the name of a beach and iron mine near Santiago de Cuba.

The word daiquirí comes from which language?

It names a beach and an iron mine in eastern Cuba.

What replaces sugar in a Hemingway daiquiri, or papa doble?

The recipe calls for two and a half jiggers of white rum, two limes, half a grapefruit and six drops of maraschino.

Which U.S. president was a noted daiquiri drinker?

Rear Admiral Lucius Johnson had carried the drink to Washington's Army and Navy Club in 1909.

What does the Spanish name of the rum-and-Coke highball translate to?

It was the slogan of the Cuban independence movement before it was a rum and Coke.

Why can the rum-and-Coke cocktail not date from the 1898 war, as legend says?

A "Cuba libre" did exist in 1898, but it was water mixed with brown sugar.

Who swore a 1965 affidavit that he saw the first rum and Coke poured in Havana in 1900?

He was a Bacardi advertising executive, which is why some doubt the story Bacardi ran in Life magazine.

What is the whipped sugar-and-espresso foam on café cubano called?

The first, strongest drops of espresso are beaten with brown sugar to make it.

What is a colada in Cuban coffee culture?

It comes with tiny plastic demitasses and is the classic workplace break in Cuban communities.

What is the name for the small walk-up coffee windows in Cuban neighbourhoods?

Cuban coffee is usually bought there with tostada or pastelitos.

What is a cortadito?

Like a cortado elsewhere, but pre-sweetened; café con leche is served with the milk separate.

In which city was Bacardi founded in 1862?

Founder Facundo Bacardí Massó was a Catalan wine merchant from Sitges who pioneered charcoal filtration of rum.

Which rum brand is made by a Cuba–Pernod Ricard venture abroad and by Bacardi in the U.S.?

The brand was created in 1934 by the Arechabala family and nationalised in 1960.

Which family created Havana Club, the rum brand Cuba nationalised in 1960?

Their Cárdenas distillery dated from 1878; the brand was seized without compensation in 1960, and Cuba and Bacardi later both sold the name.

Hatuey, Cuba's first premium beer, was named after what?

Emilio Bacardi called the chief "the first martyr to die for Cuba"; U.S. Marines nicknamed the label the one-eyed Indian.

What is guarapo?

Jupiña is the pineapple soda and Materva a yerba mate drink.

A tres leches cake is soaked in which three milks?

Its airy sponge keeps it from going soggy; canned-milk makers printed the recipe on their tins.