Cuban Food Stories

Home , Culture of Cuba, Edel Rodriguez

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EDITOR´S LETTER

My Grandmother’s BEANS What people in each country eat says a great deal about their locals. We Cubans have a complex and central relationship with food. Our lives re- volve around eating because of the many years of hard work involved in getting provisions. Feeding every day the family has aroused an imagi- PRESIDENT HUGO CANCIO nation that borders on magic, frequently on madness. However, there’s always food at our parties, birthdays, celebrations and during all the [email protected] pleasant times, food is frequently the central theme, or the pretext. We share our food like the most prized treasure and, no matter how little there is, if you get to a Cuban friend’s home at suppertime (even if you EDITORIAL DIRECTOR TAHIMI ARBOLEYA haven’t been invited), he will share with you what he has, he’ll just have to “add some water to the soup.” [email protected]

This edition of OnCuba Travel is about food. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ARIEL MACHADO When I think about the subject, my grandmother Elena’s black beans [email protected] immediately come to my mind. She used to live in the countryside, more or less 40 minutes from Havana. My parents, my sister and I used to go see her on Sundays; I used to spend the entire trip thinking of the plate SALES DIRECTOR of black beans that was invariably waiting for me. The best black beans JORGE RUIZ in the world! [email protected]

To accompany them there could be pork, or chicken, and if things were bad: eggs. When it got “really bad,” just rice, but those beans that never DESIGN & LAYOUT PATRICIO HERRERA VEGA stopped smelling of bay leafs, cumin and “ají cachucha” peppers were always present. PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR JORGE LUIS BORGES The best of the desserts was the guava preserves with white cheese which she used to make herself. My grandfather had a small farm with two or three cows that could only be used to produce milk, therefore COPYEDITING CHARO GUERRA grandmother made everything she could with it: white cheese, butter and…the caramel spread! TRANSLATION Food is so linked to our memories that we Cubans dedicate a great deal MERCEDES GUILLOT of our conversations to it. My father says we are probably the only human beings on the planet who talk about the next meal while we eat. WEB EDITOR CUBA MÓNICA RIVERO Today Cuban food is varied. We don’t eat the same thing at home as in [email protected] the restaurants, or in the city as in the countryside, or in the east, the center or the west of the country. Gourmet and Cuban cuisine take up special places in the hundreds of paladares scattered across the island…. The smells and flavors start being different.

For mi, still, each self-respecting Sunday has to smell of black beans with cumin.

ON THE COVER: Restaurant La Bodeguita del Medio / Photo: Patricio Herrera Vega

Articles may be reproduced, in whole or in part, as long as the source is cited. Reproduction of photographs without the editor’s permission is prohibited. Any views or opinions expressed are those of the articles’ authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of OnCuba. Tahimi Arboleya Editorial Director > OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions. > OnCuba Travel is a trademark™ of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions. > Oncuba Travel a publication of Fuego Media Group, a division of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., a publicly traded company (FUGI). > OnCuba © 2012 by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 46 CONTENTS ONCUBA TRAVEL MAGAZINE CUBA WITH CHRISTOPHER BAKER CUBA WONDER Five Quintessential Cuban Food Stories: Cuban Experiences A Movie Trip That Most Visitors MILENA RECIO Miss (But Shouldn’t) Who wouldn’t have sufficient curiosity to undertake a trip to their roots? Especially CHRISTOPHER BAKER if it’s about recognizing, after the culinary Once you’ve strolled the cobbled plazas of customs that persist in remote and diverse Habana Vieja and toured Havana in a quaint places of the island, the identity of the convertible classic, it’s time to experience profound Cuba. a slice of life a lo cubano—like a Cuban. So, change some of your CUCs for moneda nacional and feel like a local. PAG. 14 PAG. 26 PERSPECTIVE MADE IN CUBA Gastronomy in Cuba, Memories of Notes for a Story My Tentempiés: Fortunes and Misfortunes of Contingency Food ALICIA GARCÍA Writing about gastronomy in Cuba is a pending subject. There ALICIA GARCÍA In Cuba contingency food has been a constant in diverse are researches, articles, diverse cooking books, but it isn’t historic periods of the nation. The generations born in enough. With these notes I am motivating readers and profes- the 1960s and ’70s particularly to a certain point have sionals from the sector to systematize and study in depth an sui generis limited eating habits and tastes due to the essential space of Cuban heritage: its gastronomy and food established form of living during the process of the 1959 culture.. Cuban Revolution. PAG. 20 PAG. 30 TESTIMONY ECONOMY & BUSINESS 2017. Heading Back to Cuba Tourism in Cuba for the Third Time, But RAFAEL BETANCOURT it Felt Like the First Tourism is the Cuban economy’s locomotive – it is still YVONNE & running, but the number of wagons it has to pull and

the speed it has been forced to maintain is concerning. YVETTE RODRÍGUEZ We invite you to join us on our adventures. Boosted by cruise tourism and the arrivals of travelers For those that have never visited the from the United States, the country is committed to the island, the rumors are true: Cuba is the vitality of the tourist industry, not just because of its gem of the Caribbean. economic importance but also political.

PAG. 34 PAG. 54 ART & CULTURE LIGHT AND SHADOWS Edel Rodríguez: Sosabravo: The Designer Who Dedication and Love for Draws Trump Is Cuban Cuban Culture TAHIMI ARBOLEYA ESTRELLA DÍAZ Ever since Donald Trump postulated himself as a presiden- Every day, before taking a brush in his hand to stand in front tial candidate he has been present in the press worldwide. of the canvas, Sosabravo establishes a secret dialogue with However, his most impacting graphic image has come his garden, which he carefully tends to. That relationship with out of the imagination and the hands of a U.S. immigrant, a the environment, in many ways in his works, overflows with Cuban-American artist. light, color, happiness and optimism but, above all, a rooted and deep Cubanness.

PAG. 40 PAG. 58 PHOTO FEATURE ONCUBA SUGGESTS Cuba in Depth El Biky, WANDA CANALS a Gastronomic Experience I’m from Havana and I don’t think I exaggerate when I affirm that there aren’t many places that seduce the camera more than Havana; however, the Cuba in CECILIA CRESPO its purest and most heterogeneous, realistic and magical essence can be felt El Biky is an atypical non-agricultural cooperative that provides multiple gastronomic in its countryside. To get to know Cuba you have to launch yourself head-on services. It will be celebrating its first three years in November and the long lines in its into its depths and if we have a camera at hand, the better. doorway speak of its undeniable and sustained quality. OnCuba visited all and each one of its areas, up to its huge kitchen. PAG. 46 PAG. 62 CONTRIBUTORS

CHRISTOPHER BAKER ALICIA GARCÍA MILENA RECIO RAFAEL BETANCOURT TAHIMI ARBOLEYA WANDA CANALS ESTRELLA DÍAZ CECILIA CRESPO Travel journalist, photographer, author, The admiration for my father – founder of the Master’s in Communication Doctor in Economic Sciences Master’s in Communication Philologist by profession, I have reached My great-grandfather was a lighthouse keeper There are times when I talk nonstop, although I adventure motorcyclist, tour leader, romantic famous Rancho Luna and El Aljibe restaurants, I am still perplexed about the course of my At dawn I place my laptop in my backpack and I like to listen. I love stories and the names that photography in a tardy but definitive way. in the Morro, my mother was born in a wooden also listen. My silent aspect is only seen when (and single). Cuba—exotic, eccentric, and philosopher of gastronomy and of all things life and the signs I receive from the world. I walk to the park closest to my home that has my grandfather gave his characters. I have lived Although at the same time I have conserved my house with a red roof built at the foot of the I cling to my keyboard. I have a passion for my enigmatic—feeds my insatiable curiosity and about life – has enabled me to value the culinary increasingly understand less and increasingly Wi-Fi to receive and send my emails, which I many lives: imagining them. academic life active as a linguist in the staffs of lighthouse; I’ve always thought La Giraldilla family and for a long time for Cuban culture passion. I feel like I’m Cuban in my heart and and food culture not just to delight myself but ask questions. sign, with a bit of irony, Sent from my Office in Cuban and Chinese universities, photography enigmatic and beautiful…I feel very linked and a delicious book I am writing to distribute soul. also as a fundamental space to understand the Park. When I at last get the yearned for Nauta Edel Rodríguez: The Designer Who Draws has become my favorite way of reading the to Havana and I believe it is because of my among my friends: Practical and Exotic Cooking the human essence. I am a co-founder of the Cuban Food Stories: A Movie Trip Hogar at home, I will work more comfortably and Trump Is Cuban world, explaining it and explaining myself to it, relation with the sea: could it be because I am a Handbook. Five Quintessential Cuban Experiences That Gourmet Festival and author of several books PAG. 26 more efficiently, but no doubt I will miss those PAG. 40 living it. daughter of Yemayá? Most Visitors Miss (But Shouldn’t) on Cuban food. walks to the park, which I repeat five or six times El Biky, a Gastronomic Experience PAG. 14 during the day and night. Cuba in Depth Sosabravo: Dedication and Love for Cuban PAG. 62 Gastronomy in Cuba, Notes for a Story PAG. 46 Culture PAG. 20 2017. Tourism in Cuba PAG. 58 Memories of My Tentempiés: Fortunes and PAG. 34 Misfortunes of Contingency Food PAG. 30 CUBA WITH CHRISTOPHER BAKER FIVE QUINTESSENTIAL CUBAN EXPERIENCES That most visitors miss (But shouldn’t)

15 RIDING A MAQUINA

Hiring a sexed up Eisenhower-era convertible classic for a ride along the Malecón is de rigueur for the first-time visitor. After which, it’s time to travel around town like a Cuban. That means hailing a máquina. Not to be confused with the luxury ‘50s sedans that hang outside hotels, these lesser-quality jalopies do duty as licensed collective taxis (colectivos) that run along fixed routes just like buses, and charge 10 pesos (50 cents) for any distance.

Peso taxis were once forbidden to give rides to foreigners, who were required to stick to state-owned taxis. (More than once I was asked to bob down or look away whenever we passed a policeman!) These days they’re more democratic. Packed to the gills, they lumber off on well-worn, sagging tires amid a crunching of worn gears and backfiring from weary exhausts. To avoid getting scolded by the chofer, don’t slam the door!

It’s hellafun as you bounce down potholed Neptuno to the rhythm of reggaeton on the radio.

Havana’s unique frozen-in-time stage-set backdrop lends a twi- Cuba’s rich diversity can be found standing in line at light-zone ambience that Hollywood couldn’t dream up if it tried. Coppelia on a sunny afternoon. Queuing with the Cubans is But for the visitor, Cuba’s real magic isn’t its one-of-a-kind rev- what makes the Coppelia experience so rewarding. The lines olutionary icons, its crumbling architecture, its quaint vintage buzz with flirting and chatter. Each section has its own cola cars. It’s the seemingly mundane, quintessential experiences a (line), proportional in length to the strength of the sun. Deter- lo cubano that you’ll forever remember as favorite take-aways. mining the last person in line isn’t easy: ask for “¿el ultimo?” Here are five uniquely Cuban slices of life not to miss... That’s because Cuban lines are never static. While some haba- neros wander off to sit in the shade, others disappear from view altogether to reappear at the critical moment, when the cola co- alesces in perfect order as if by osmosis. When it comes to religion in Cuba, santería is second I SCREAM to heladería. Cubans worship ice cream (helado). When Havana All talk ends once Cubans are seated. Slurping helado is sizzles, the entire city descends on Parque Coppelia, the world’s a heads-down, communal homage at shared tables. Conversation biggest ice creamery (taking up an entire block at the top of La barely rises above a murmur, as if Coppelia truly were a cathedral. FOR ICE CREAM Rampa, in Vedado, it averages 30,000 customers a day). Appro- The ice cream—served with taciturn efficiency by waitresses in priately, Coppelia is known as “la catedral de helado.” 1950s plaid miniskirts—wins no awards. But, to me, no other experience speaks so sweetly to Cuba’s iconic revolutionary idealism. Nowhere embodies Cuba’s revolutionary ideals quite like this true “people’s park” offering a for-pennies indulgence You’ll need moneda nacional, as convertibles aren’t ac- for the masses… who wait... and wait... and wait, with feverish cepted. Resist being steered toward a “tourist” section offering anticipation to pig out on as much ice cream as they can stuff immediate service for an exorbitant CUC1 per scoop. Order at least into their bellies and handbags. Novels have been written here, a five-scoop ensalada. Any less and your waitress will assume you music scores conceived (this being Cuba, perhaps even babies). made an error.

16 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 17 Known officially as Avenida Antonio Ma- ceo, and more commonly as “el Malecón” WATCH A BASEBALL GAME HANGING ON (literally “embankment” or “seawall”), Havana’s seafront boulevard edging sin- More so than yanquis, Cubans are baseball fanatics. In fact, (soft drinks), ham sandwiches and popcorn. Oh… and don’t THE MALECON uously along the Atlantic shoreline of- beísbol is a passion second only to sex as the national sport. expect the toilets to flush, or even have seats. fers a microcosm of city life: The elderly walking their dogs; musicians practicing Watching a baseball game in Cuba is a whole dif- Aficionados—including plenty of kids, families, and on trombones and trumpets; fishers cast- ferent experience than Stateside. There’s no Budweiser- or single women—hunker in the shady spots of the sun-beat- ing their lines or casting off on great in- Chevrolet-sponsored Jumbotron (thank goodness!). The only en stadiums, which resound to a cacophony of bongo drums, ner tubes (neumáticos); dreamers staring “ads” exhort patriotism, loyalty, hard work, and “Revolución, trumpets, and horns. It’s the most fun you can have in Cuba wistfully toward Miami. si!” Forget between-innings giveaways. And alcohol isn’t al- for one convertible (Cubans pay a mere 5 pesos; 20 cents). lowed, although vendors come around hawking refrescos To visit Cuba and not walk the Malecón would be liking visiting Paris without ascending the Eiffel Tower. Ex- cept… merely strolling the promenade doesn’t cut it. You have to hang on a weekend evening and be a play-actor in Havana’s dynamic open-air theater.

Fairly quiet on a weekday afternoon, it mutates at night, when thou- sands of youth gather to socialize and party alfresco, especially at the foot of La Rampa. Bottles of rum are passed around. Music drowns out the crash of waves. And scores of couples unashamedly fondle, neck, and even make love. One reason the Malecón is known as “Havana’s sofa.”

DOMINOES

Dominoes is the quintessential neighborhood game and, in Cuba, serious business. Consider Juana Martín y Martín! This domino fanatic lost both a game and her life at the same time when she died of a heart attack with a double-three in her hand. Her gravestone in Necrópolis Cristóbal Colón is topped by a huge double-three in Carrara marble.

You can’t walk any street, anywhere, anytime, without chancing upon a makeshift table and rickety chairs set out in the street or the sidewalk. Two pairs of players will be facing each other, cigars in hand, a bottle of rum to one side, while hangers-on study the moves. For a foreigner to pause briefly to watch is guaranteed to result in an invitation to play.

There’s no exuberant slamming down tiles, as in the DR or Jamaica. Cubans are cool and measured when they place their fichas, and calmly rap their knuckles on the table when forced to pass. Then… “¡Dominó!” an exuberant player cries with the winning play. “¡Coño!” respond the losers.

“¡Coño!” It’s the most important word you should master in Cuba. Use it well a lo cubano—“¡…ññño!” is preferred—and you’ll be a considered quintessentially Cuban.

18 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 19 PERSPECTIVE

There is a notable growing interest in the Foods like beans, soups, ajiaco, pork with butter and a wide-ranging assort- world about subjects related to the gas- legs, cracklings, pork rings, fish, ment of other foods related to that tronomy of each people, a very important jerky, fried eggs, stewed meat in to- type of establishment. The gathering part of their culture. Cuban food also tells mato sauce, shredded friend meat, of Cuban writer José Lezama Lima in La its story. ground beef, chicken fricassee, rice lluvia de oro Café and the meetings in Gastronomy cooked with chicken, white rice, the Café Vista Alegre, where emblem- rice cooked with kidney beans, rice atic songs of the traditional Cuban IN HIS TRAVEL cooked with black beans, cornmeal, trova were written and sung, among LOG, SAMUEL tamales, yucca with garlic and oil- others, were famous. in Cuba based sauce, boiled cassava, sweet HAZARD potato and the fried vegetables The bars and nightclubs because of (yucca, cassava, sweet potato, plan- their cosmopolitan and bohemian ac- Notes for a Story REFERRED TO tain) constitute that palate formed cent were the rage. In 1924 the Cuban from the cultural melting pot that Bartenders Club had been created, the CUBAN FOOD Cuban food is and will always be, first of its type in the world – the cur- CUSTOMS: although I consider that it was the rent Association of Cuban Bartenders. cheap Cuban restaurant which pop- The style and professionalism of the The Inglaterra Hotel and Restaurant, on ularized our very Cuban stamp.2 Cuban bartender was being imposed Prado Street, is also excellent, especially (and today is reaffirmed). It is not by for the gentlemen, since in it they can In the Cafés, a deeply rooted Spanish chance that some of the creations from separately take a room and eat in the a inheritance, conceived for conversa- that time are included among the clas- la carte restaurant…. Since what is served tions, doing business and dates, there sic and most distinguished cocktails in at the table, in the major part of the cities, always had to be the cup or mug of milk the world. We can find proof of that in all the hotels and most of the best pri- with coffee, nice and crusty baguettes resonance in bars like Sloppy Joe’s, in vate homes, generally belongs to French those of La Bodeguita del Medio, El Flo- cuisine, it is only in the rural districts that ridita, Dos hermanos, Monserrate, Cas- 2 Silvia Mayra Gómez: La fonda y sus comidas, one can taste the Cuban dishes bona Oriente Publishers, En Casa Collection, Santia- tillo de Farnés and in the Sevilla and fide… The daily meals of the humblest of go de Cuba, 2017, p. 15. Inglaterra hotels, among many others. farmers consist of fried pork and boiled rice, in the morning, replacing bread with fried or baked plantain. In the evening they eat beef, jerky, chicken and roast –∞– pork, but more usually the meal consists of roasted plantain and the national plate, the ajiaco, which in Cuba is what SLOPPY JOE´S the meat and vegetable stew is in Spain.1 –∞– Since those times until the first half of the 20th century, the popular taste took a liking to the cheap restaurants of Cubans and of Spanish and Chinese immigrants, the fast food stands and the timbiriches (which sold bread with omelets, bread with fritas, a variety of fried food like those made with cod and those with black-eyed peas, stuffed potatoes, croquets, bread and pork, bread and beef steak, tamales, cracklings, sandwiches, fruit shakes, sugarcane juice, lemonade, coffee, etc.), the ice-cream carts and the vendors of churros, the pushcarts with the most delicious tropical fruits and the cafeterias, like those in high demand: El Carmelo and El Potín, as well as the economical meals of the dime stores of El Ve- dado, San Rafael, Obispo and Monte.

1 Quoted by Jesús Abascal López, in, “Apuntes 20 gastronómicos. Siglo XX”. Revista Arte Culinar- io, no. 2, Culinary Association of the Republic of Alicia García Cuba, Aug. 2002, p. 5. Photos: Archive and Luisa M. Hernández

Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 21 During the 1940s and ’50s, together In the following decades (’70s and ’80s) with those popular and traditional food new structures were established to at- spaces at very accessible prices, stylized tend to gastronomy: INIT disappeared –∞– and expensive restaurants prevailed, –∞– and the Gastronomy and Services Sec- with a predominance of international tor was created, belonging to the gov- classic cuisine, in their majority for the ernment or People’s Power, associated EL FLORIDITA Havana middle classes and high society LA BODEGUITA to the Ministry of Domestic Trade, with and for foreign tourists: Monseigneur, similar functions to the already men- –∞– El Emperador, La Torre, Floridita, Puerto tioned. The Federation of Culinary As- de Sagua, El Templete, Castillo de Jagua, DEL MEDIO sociations of the Republic of Cuba was Club 21; in those of the Havana Hilton, created to “dignify and train cooks” Nacional, Riviera, Capri and Deauville as well as hospitality and gastronomy hotels, and the Sans Souci and Mont- –∞– schools like the Sergio Pérez. The Sevilla martre cabarets. La Bodeguita del Medio Hotel School (which existed before 1959) evolved from being a cheap restaurant was modified as a Higher Studies School to a typical Cuban food restaurant and with different gastronomic specialties in Rancho Luna (from Wajay and El Ve- its program. But, in general, the mimesis dado) were an obligatory reference of in the apprenticeship with emphasis on traditional cuisine with its Rancho Luna international cuisine and service con- Chicken family recipe. The Centro Vasco, tinued, and still continues, which until Zaragozana, El Baturro and others estab- now has conditioned the low profile of a lished their success on Spanish cuisine. great deal of the state-run gastronomy. And, among those specializing in Italian cuisine, Frascatti, La Picola d’Italia, Mon- tecatini and La Romanita stand out. –∞– In 1968, as a result of the Revolution- ary Offensive, the process of national- EL ALJIBE ization of gastronomic establishments, which had started since the mid-1960s, concluded. The Cafés, the fast food –∞– stands and other outlets gradually disappeared. The restaurants and cafeterias that remained open were sub- ordinated to INIT (National Institute of Tourism). Thus began a period in which the popular gastronomy was directed at guaranteeing not just very economical prices but also social alimentation in school centers, hospitals, worker canteens and other State institutions. The Luxury Restaurants Enterprise emerged to “safeguard” some of those mythi- cal restaurants and cafeterias from the 1950s and to create others of higher than average quality standards which were decreasing. INIT’s Department of Technical Consultancy brought together professionals in different specialties (salon, cold area, soda fountains, butch- er shops, canteen, pastries, etc.), who were in charge of managing, advising and developing the old and new gastronomic establishments in Cuba.

The shortage of raw material, supplies and integrally trained professionals, as well as the diminished strategies in that sector, hindered the prosperity of Cuban gastronomy on a national and international level.

22 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 23 In the 1990s, Cuba had to again set its sights on the tourist industry relegated un- –∞– til then. Strategies started taking shape to –∞– recover the gastronomy. The FORMATUR ATELIER schools were created on a national level, as DOÑA EUTIMIA well as corporations like Gran Caribe and Cubanacán, with branches for the develop- –∞– ment of gastronomy, whose methodologi- –∞– cal directives are governed by MINTUR (Min- istry of Tourism). As part of Cubanacán’s structure the Palmares Non-Hotel Enter- prise was created with which El Aljibe, La Cecilia, Tocororo, La Ferminia, among other restaurants, won international fame. Some new and others very well-known were “re- launched,” as occurred with El Floridita, and became part of this company.

The Habaguanex Company, which at- resolution, the non-state management And there are the more informal, but tended gastronomy and hotels in the Of- was increasingly made more flexible with a stamp that makes them unique: fice of the City Historian, became a refer- and these paladares started proliferat- Ajiaco Café (Cojímar), La cuchipapa and ent of prestige with its Café del Oriente, ing throughout Cuba with original and San Salvador de Bayamo (Bayamo, Gran- La Mina, La Imprenta, Al Medina, Torre multiple proposals that defend Cuban ma), Los Amigos (Santa Cruz del Norte, de Marfil restaurants, among others. traditional cuisine, based on the rescu- Mayabeque), La cueva taína (Gibara, Hol- ing of dishes and recipes that had been guín), Paladar de María (road restaurant, Meanwhile, the popular gastronomy con- left in oblivion, as well as contemporary Taguasco, Sancti Spíritus). tinued declining and the displacement of fusion cuisine. the more competent toward the tourist The non-state gastronomic manage- sector’s gastronomy was increasing. They are luxurious and famous restau- ment is growing in all the Cuban prov- rants, some of them located in a house inces and is increasingly more success- In 1993 the Cuban government autho- or an apartment building, adapted for ful. According to the purchasing power rized the private management of some gastronomic service (La Guarida, La co- of Cubans and non-Cubans, guests are sectors. The first paladares (popular cina de Lilliam, Varadero 60, San Cris- increasing and the panorama of the bar- term, taken from a Brazilian soap op- tóbal, Santy, La Corte del Príncipe); or the rios is changing. It’s a boom that seems era with a high rating in Cuba, used to new entrepreneurs purchased dissimilar to have come to stay. name private cafeterias and restau- spaces to make them functional: Atelier, rants) were created. In 2013, with a new El cocinero, La Guarida, Doña Eutimia.

24 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 25 CUBA WONDER

A Cuban friend who lives in Paris, where she has learned among many other things the arts of good cooking, com- mented to me that in Cuba, however, we eat more to energize the body than CUBAN FOOD to please the spirit. It’s an opinion that’s a bit absolute but that is widespread among many Cubans, especially those of us who lived the hardest years of the Special Period and are still convalescing, STORIES: with an insatiable appetite and yearning for unknown delicacies.

I was thinking of this when I heard of the A Movie Trip premiere, in the Berlin International Film Festival, of an 82-minute-long rather sin- Milena Recio gular documentary that awakens our pal- Photos: Courtesy of Asori Soto ate and pleases the heart.

Cuban Food Stories, produced and directed by Asori Soto, is the movie of a trip through the Cuban geography and identity in one of its less publicized aspects in recent decades: our culinary traditions.

Asori Soto is a Cuban filmmaker who 10 years after having lived as an émigré in New York decided to undertake this return trip to his Cuba, camera in hand, to bear testimony of the less known zones of Cuban cuisine through nine chapters: stories of Cubans who maintain, in the mountains or on the coasts, in the big cities or in the smallest towns, the “flavors” of Cuba. Much more complicated, varied and exquisite than what is known.

Having made this film was an exercise of introspection and discovery. Asori feels that what he lived during its making al- lowed him to realize the power of the cooking traditions “not just in the preser- vation of our heritage, but also as a tool to start a conversation about tolerance and diversity.”

In the Berlinale, he tells us, “we felt very fortunate since the film was very well- received by the public and the international press. There was a full house for the screenings and at the end of each showing we had very good sessions of questions and answers with the public. We will soon have the film as part of the 27 official selection of the Guadalajara Inter- national Film Festival and in the Miami Film Festival, both in March.” Your film brings back an image of Cuba that at times not even we Cubans have a very clear view of: WE ARE DIVERSE TYPES OF CUBANS, SEVERAL CUBAS WITHIN CUBA.

We Cubans are very diverse. Cuba is the Caribbean’s largest is- believe that there are increasingly more land and many provinces have well-marked culinary differences. people interested in rescuing Cuba’s Many towns and hamlets are geographically isolated from the most authentic flavors and in creating rest of the country and that’s why we can see totally different a new culinary panorama. It’s still a very regional cuisines; whether because of the use of cacao or co- small amount, but each day there are conut in Baracoa, or the way in which the seafood is cooked in more food producers, chefs and entre- Gibara, or how pork is roasted on a hammock in Viñales. In all preneurs who work very hard to change the Cuban provinces we can find culinary surprises, if we know the current situation. I believe that with where to look. time and a lot of effort we will be able to get the passion for cooking to return During your research, and later in the production, you met amaz- to Cuba. ing persons, families with incredible stories. Do you believe there are potentials in Each of the stories in the film has a very special meaning for me. Cuba to inaugurate tourist routes based It would be very difficult for me to choose one over another. What on food? If someone were to ask you to I can say is that I was greatly impressed by the passion of all the design that route, which places would characters we met to maintain alive their culinary traditions; you include without doubting it? each of them in their way and with dishes from their region. Cuba has a great potential for culinary The difficulties to have access to foodstuffs have marked Cuba’s re- tourism. In the near future we will be cent history, to the point that some traditions seem to have diluted publishing in the social media of Cu- or have already mutated in an irreversible way. ban Food Stories our recommendations of where to eat throughout the entire The economic situation in Cuba has undoubtedly affected the island, be it in restaurants or in private island’s culinary traditions. The shortage of foodstuffs and ingre- homes. Personally, my favorite places to dients is very strong and makes many recipes change or disap- eat in Cuba are (from west to east): Vi- pear. But I don’t share the idea that it is in an “irreversible” way. I ñales, Havana, Gibara and Baracoa.

28 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 29 MADE IN CUBA

During diverse historic periods, contingency food has been a The dynamics of the canteens made many of us get used to constant in Cuba: providing food for the slaves, the Mambí inde- eating our food with one spoon (big, from soup to dessert), and 30 pendence fighters, the farmers, workers, rebel troops, marginal have inconceivable mixtures be decided, while everything was barrios; the search for a solution in extreme circumstances, dif- served at once on a tray, and each one of us chose how and when ficult or restricted like the periods of drought, tropical storms, to eat them. intense rainfalls, acute economic crises. The fact of living with colleagues and friends favored a special The generations born in the 1960s and ’70s, throughout the sense of solidarity and lack of prejudice to share and exchange country have a marked influence of the food regimens intro- what was served in the canteens as well as outside of them, in- duced by the government’s policies at the different levels of the cluding the foods stored and brought from home, many of them educational system. We perpetuate habits and tastes derived real “jewels of culinary imagination,” known as tentempiés from our experiences in the so-called canteens, in the first levels (snacks), based on the need to conserve food for several days to of education as well as in the following: junior and senior highs supplement the insufficient and not very liked school diet. (schools in the countryside), as well as in the family options in public and other places. Our memories come alive with the recollections of eating, at dawn or during the evenings, the “fanguito” (canned condensed We are not generations with a deep knowledge of general culi- milk cooked in bain-marie), toasted cornmeal with sugar, pea- nary and eating cultures. In our first years of life we were fed, in nut candy, cooked cream paddies, cookies and crackers, torticas the sense of nutrition, but with great limitations in the variety de morón, candies made from molasses, candy made from sug- Illustrations: Guillo Moreno of foods and their form of cooking and eating them. arcane juice, homemade mayonnaise or spreads for dressing

30 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 31 prepared with what was at hand, powdered milk (cans imported from the then Soviet Union) and powdered chocolate, mixed with sugar without being diluted, guava paste and homemade cheeses (the “timba” is prepared with the bread, the guava and cheese), hard candies, etc.

Those canteens, which were not conceived to follow the most elemental rules of gastronomic services, had a character- istic smell, not agreeable at all, that rather recalls the smells of what we Cubans contemptuously call “slop.” Among the routine offers there was cow milk – with no additives, that is to say, without coffee or chocolate, with large amounts of skin on top – or natural half warm yogurt. The most frequently served were black and kidney beans, there was the pea soup and, with very great frequency, imported canned fish like sardines, shark, macker- els, and macarela or others.

Eggs were a constant in the offers, almost always scrambled and uncolored or boiled and served whole, au naturel. On occasions we ate small portions of chicken or beef or pork, previously boiled, with some tomato or some sort of seasoning and minimal amounts, also the pig’s pata y panza, a menu that was re- jected very frequently, cornmeal, boiled, with no seasoning, the combination of soup and “surprise” yellow rice (meaning that someone would be lucky if a piece of meat appeared inside it). In terms of sea- son vegetables, occasional, the predomi- nant memory of tomatoes and cucum- bers, withered and au naturel, remains with us.

One of the spaces designed on the tray was set aside for the only piece of sweet potato, plantain (green or ripe), squash or more. For the weekend, at home what was considered exclu- To end these incomplete and simple notes of my reminiscences, potato, always boiled and also au naturel. sive and exquisite was collected: the beef steak or the chicken which undoubtedly form part of our collective memory, I don’t About the desserts we still remember breast, the French fries or the fried cassava, the rice cooked with want to leave out something that also marked and defined the custard, rice pudding or oatmeal (a black or kidney beans, the flans and puddings, among other tastes and pleasures for our not too demanding palates during cooked cereal with a sticky texture like foods put away zealously because getting hold of them was dif- childhood and adolescence: the “afternoon snacks from primary plasticine), served at room temperature ficult or very limited. education” (from first to sixth grade), fundamentally comprising because there was no time for it to cool. the tortica de morón or the masarreal and the soft drinks, of the Very sweet guava or mango marmalades Paradoxically, the benefits of the agricultural and rural sur- Son make, in glass bottles, in individual doses, of coke, orange, were also frequently served. roundings of the schools in the countryside were not taken ad- pineapple or malt drink, directly drinking them from the bottle, vantage of to pass on an integral culture directed at a good diet, always at room temperature. Then, what happened once a week? The health, ecology and eating traditions. We went through those families would come in swarms and, all schools and above all we always felt the being closed up, the All that, and more, also forms part of the why and how we Cu- of a sudden, we would eat too many tid- need to subsist on contingency diets and cooking, that defined, bans understand the preferences and habits related to food. bits like croquets – a food that deserves to a certain extent, the limited eating habits and the disinterest a study in Cuban cooking – bread with…, about a balanced diet. soft drinks, all types of sweets, and much

32 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 33 ECONOMY & BUSINESS

While tourism was the sector with the biggest growth in 2017, its efficiency was not that lucky, since while visitors increased by 16.5%, incomes grew only 10.5%, which reflects a decrease in the income per tourist, which went down from 760 dollars in 2016 to 722 in 2017. In Havana, the arrival of international visitors increased from 2.1 to 2.6 million, but the tourist-day relation decreased from 3.2 to 3 million from 2016 to 2017. In the same way, the lineal room occupancy in the hotels reached 60.7% in 2016, the last available data. The hotel occupancy rate in 2016 of two important competitors was 80.4% in Cancun and 78.1% in the Dominican Republic.4

Cruise tourism experienced the greatest growth in 2017 compared to 2016: a total The Cuban economy’s locomotive – tourism – is still running, but the of 437,429 tourists arrived on cruise ships, number of wagons it has to pull and the speed it has been forced to not counting the crew members, more maintain is concerning. than threefold the number for 2016 and 15 fold for 2015, after this year the U.S. gov- Last 2017 the island received 4,689,895 international visitors, repre- ernment authorized the visit to Cuba of senting an increase of 16.2% in relation to the previous year. In these ships coming from that country. Last year results the growth in cruise tourism (251%) should be highlighted as registered 706 cruise stopovers in eight well as that of the arrival of travelers from the United States (67.3%). Cuban ports, especially Havana, where 395,588 passengers arrived, many of them According to the principal indicators of the Cuban economy in 2017, to continue their journey to stopover ports reported to the National Assembly of People’s Power last Decem- in Cuba like Cienfuegos, Santiago de Cuba ber, the Cuban GDP grew 1.6% and the most dynamic sector was and Casilda (Trinidad) and to others in the tourism (4.4%). According to that report the incomes from tour- Caribbean. ism grew by 10.5%.1 Cuba has become one of the Caribbean’s International tourism forms part of the export of services, and increased principal cruise destinations. As a sign of TOURISM from 2.503 billion dollars in 2011 to 3.069 billion in 2016 (a 22% growth in five this, the three principal U.S. cruise compa- years). However, the estimate of incomes for the total export of services was nies - Carnival Corporation, Royal Carib- reduced during these years by 959 billion dollars, for a 9.5% drop, which bean and Norwegian Cruises Lines – an- implies that the increases in tourism did not compensate for the decrease nounced their intention of making 286 in incomes for the export of skilled workforce.2 Its weight in the total of stopovers in Cuban ports until 2019, which export of goods and services increased from 14% in 2011 to 19% in 2015.3 would represent more than 623 billion Tourism’s locomotive has a big load to pull when the other engines are dollars for the shipping companies and not working at full speed. the arrival of some 455,000 passengers to the largest of the Caribbean islands.5 1 Speech by Minister of the Economy Ricardo Cabrisas before the National As- sembly of People’s Power (12/12/2017): www.cubadebate.cu But, what does cruise tourism represent 2 J.L. Rodríguez: “Cuba y su economía: el 2017 recién concluido y un 2018 que apenas comienza (II)”, in Cubadebate (02/02/2018): www.cubadebate.cu in economic benefits for the destination 3 R. Betancourt: “La importancia del turismo en la Balanza de pagos de countries compared to the stays? The Cuba”, in Cubadebate (11/24/2016): www.cubadebate.cu Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) estimated that in early 2000 each cruise passenger generated an average of $17 in IN CUBA taxes per visit ($9 in taxes per passenger 34 and some $8 in sales taxes), while the 4 J.L. Rodríguez: “Cuba y su economía: el 2017 17 recién concluido y un 2018 que apenas comienza (III)”, in Cubadebate (02/02/2018): www.cubadebate.cu 5 J.L. Perelló: “El turismo y las relaciones co- merciales Cuba-USA”, in Progreso Semanal 2RAFAEL BETANCOURT0 (02/19/2018). 234 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 017 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 35 INTERNATIONAL CRUISES VISITORS 251% VS 2016 4, 689, 895 16.2% VS 2016

fact that the analogous statistics are not available for Cuba, it is to be supposed that the growth in cruise passengers isn’t going to represent a relevant increase for the country’s incomes.

With the opening of relations between Cuba and the United States in Decem- ber 2014, and up to June 2017 in which the new president decided to reverse it, the arrival of visitors from the United tourist stays in the country generated an States witnessed an important leap. average of $133 in taxes - which means Statistics distinguish between the Cu- that the governments collected eight ban Americans who enter the country times more taxes per each visitor’s stay with Cuban passport, and the “pure” than for each cruise passenger. In terms Americans – who do so with passport of spending by visitor, in 2015 the CTO es- from that country. As can be seen in timated that 28.7 million tourist stays and the diagram below, the arrival of Cu- 24.4 million cruise passengers visited the ban Americans started off with more 32 Caribbean countries, and generated a than 273,000 – and greatly grew but total of $30 billion in spending per land gradually: 8% in 2015; 17% in 2016; and visitors. Of this, only 8%, or $2.4 million, 26% in 2017. But the number of Ameri- U.S. TRAVELERS was spent by cruise passengers, and 92%, can tourists shot up, from only 91,000 or $27.6 billion for tourist stays. Therefore, in 2014 to almost 620,000 in 2017: an while the number of cruise passenger ar- almost sevenfold increase. To make it rivals and of visitor stays are more or less clear, not all Americans of Cuban origin 67.3% VS 2016 similar in the Caribbean, the tourist stays enter the country with Cuban passport. generated 11.5 more times per person Those born in the United States do so than the cruise passengers.6 Despite the with that passport, even though they come for family visits, and the statistics include the number of entries, not 6 M. Honey; J. Wilkins; J.L. Perelló and R. Be- tancourt: Por el Mar de las Antillas: 50 años de of persons, which is why those travelers 706 CRUISE STOPOVERS turismo de cruceros en el Caribe, Temas Pub- who come to Cuba several times a year lishers, Havana, 2018. are counted every time. IN 8 PORTS

36 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 37 However, the honeymoon of U.S. tourism in Cuba is in danger. On the one hand, ENTRY TO CUBA OF U.S. VISITORS (2014 2017) THE TOURISM SECTOR REGISTERED THE BIGGEST GROWTH Canadian tourism, the first among the is- 700,000 suing countries to Cuba with more than 619 777 a million annual visitors, has registered 600,000 IN 2017 ALTHOUGH ITS EFFICIENCY DID NOT IMPROVE a 13% decrease since 2015. The causes are not clear, but the quality-price competi- 500,000 tion of other countries like the Dominican 400,000 432 642 Republic and Cancun can be the cause. 344 522 300,000 But on the other hand, the president in 273 105 294 382 284 565 VISITORS INCOMES turn in the United States, in alliance with 200,000 the anti-Cuban legislators from Florida, 160 811 has taken it upon himself to roll back the 100,000 policy of understanding with Cuba out- 91 254 lined by his predecessor, precisely focusing 0 on reducing tourism to the island. Since 2014 2015 2016 2017 16.5% VS 2016 10.5% VS 2016 June 2017 Trump has issued a series of re- strictions and policy changes that include: Cuban Americans Americans

New regulations to restrict self-directed individual trips on people-to-people exchanges, Prohibition (for all U.S. nationals) to make any financial transaction with a group of 180 entities linked to Cuban defense, intelligence and security services, Forced withdrawal of the majority of the officials of the U.S. embassy in Havana and, inversely, from the Cuban embassy in Washington D.C., In a poll by the Center for Responsible people, taxi drivers and coachmen from for foreign suppliers, financiers and inves- Travel (CREST), 42 U.S. tour operators Havana, who last year had a numerous tors. That’s why the insistence in Cuba The Travel Warning issued by the Department of which took more than 17,000 persons to American clientele, confirm that their that tourism is growing…and continues Cuba in 2017 reported that none of them businesses have suffered significantly. growing. State in September 2017 and reported symptoms of a sickness similar to those experienced by the Embassy staff. Despite President Trump’s June 2017 an- The short “spring” of the normalization of However, the poll revealed that 85% of the nouncement that he would roll back sev- relations between Cuba and the United The new system of Travel Warnings of the surveyed companies have seen a major eral of Obama’s tourist opening measures, States initiated by Barack Obama has be- drop in their bookings, or an increase in he specifically excluded cruise tourism, come a “winter of dissatisfaction” under Department of State presented in January 2018, their cancelations in the second half of nevertheless he sent a signal that the the Trump government. Now more than 2017 compared to the first half; 66% have complete lifting of the U.S. blockade on ever, the words of Eusebio Leal Spengler, which classifies Cuba as Level 3: “reconsider experienced cancelations of their travel Cuba remained distant. City of Havana Historian, resound: each partners (universities, museums, profes- time a U.S. cruise ship enters the bay of sional associations, etc.), and 85% forecast For Cuba the vitality of the tourist industry Havana and hundreds of average Ameri- traveling…due to the attacks on health against less people-to-people travel reservations is not just an economic matter, it is also a cans pour into the beautiful city and mix in 2018 than in 2017. Informal conversa- political priority. Part of the image that the with its inhabitants, “we are breaking the workers of the U.S. Embassy in Havana.” tions with private landlords or landladies, Cuban economy is advancing despite the [U.S. economic and financial] blockade. 1 2 3 4 5 owners of restaurants and bars, crafts- difficulties depends on it, a key message

38 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 39 ART & CULTURE The 40 Designer Who Draws Trump Is Cuban Tahimi Arboleya “When I think of Donald Trump, a flame, an orange circle, with a hole in the center…as if it were a mouth, immediately comes to my mind. Some images are very powerful.”

This is one of the many illustrations that Edel Rodríguez (a Cu- ban American who resides in New York) has made of the U.S. president. He started drawing when Trump was running in his presidential campaign, in 2016.

They have always been disquieting images. The first to create a big stir was the cover of the German magazine Der Spiegel (April 2017). Edel drew Donald Trump with a bloodied knife in his left hand and the head of the Statue of Liberty, bleeding, in his right hand. Before this he had even won prizes for a cover of Time

EDEL RODRÍGUEZ magazine, with Trump’s meltdown. You have said that your condition of a La- who had lived since he was eight in Miami, tino, of a Cuban American, somehow marks the son of émigrés who worked hard, walk- your work, why? ing through the corridors of Time, designing All my memories, my experiences, were creat- and handing over illustrations so that they ed in Cuba and in Miami. The music, the food, would take him into account. In 1995 he did the family, that is my life. And when I paint, his first cover for Time, and at 26 he became that’s what I have in mind. the youngest Art Director of that prestigious magazine. He worked there for 13 years. It was 1993. A young Edel Rodríguez left the city of Miami to go to New York, his mother You were first a designer and later the Art wasn’t even able to accompany him to the Director of Time magazine, what is the dif- airport; they have been a united family that ference? Tell me about the pace of work had gotten around the obstacles of being and the possible margins of creativity émigrés, and seeing him leave was heart- As a designer you are in charge of the entire rending, even though she knew he was go- magazine, you almost never paint. You’re ing in search of his dreams. Edel gave up a in search of other artists to make the cover, complete grant in the University of Miami photographers for the inside feature arti- (anyone who studies in the United States cles, etc. If I drew it was at night, when I got knows what that means) to accept a partial home. Now I devote myself completely to in the Pratt Institute, because it had an art drawing and painting, and that has helped program that was close to his dreams. me concentrate more on the direct form of my drawings. Only a few years ago he was an inquisitive boy who was bewitched with posters and Your work has been on the cover of some publicity adverts and who followed his fa- of the world’s most important maga- ther to the dark room where he developed zines, how is that process of synthesis of his amateur photos as well as to the truck an idea taken to an illustration? Are you he drove. He would spend hours sitting by given guidelines, or just a general idea his side, enduring the asphyxiating heat and that you recreate? How is the process? attentive to his father’s constant insistence: Sometimes I have ideas and I send them to “you have to study.” the magazines. At other times I am called with an order, with a special report. I read His determination took him to the Pratt that report and squeeze it to get out the Institute. In second year he won a com- juice, to get out of it the essential. Based plete grant and, before he had concluded on that I start drawing. From the first his studies he was already working as a drawings to the final art, I take one or two designer in Time magazine. It’s impressive days. At times they give me more time, but to imagine this. A young Cuban American, normally it’s just a few days,

42 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 43 Edel is now an independent designer You live in NY, the world’s most cosmo- and artist, he chooses his works, and he politan city, what distinguishes those AS AN can dedicate more time to painting and who emigrate? Is multiculturalism a sculpture, although he doesn’t abandon source of creativity for you? IMMIGRANT design. He likes the drawings for maga- Many of those who come to New York are zines because of their immediacy, and artists, musicians and writers, people with the posters for their size. He doesn’t like big dreams. Here there’s a public that ap- ONE FEELS to make plans, he prefers to work and preciates the artists, go to their functions, let things flow. His favorite artists in- helps them. New York has a cultural his- ONE IS clude Picasso, Matisse and Paul Klee; he tory and so many museums, all that has loves Cuban music, New York salsa, rock, an influence on an artist. There are exhibi- HERE AND cumbia. He greatly enjoys Spanish and tions, music and dance almost every night; Cuban food and in general that of all of I’m frequently in those places. It’s a city THERE. Latin America. He tells me he has no time with a lot of life. to follow sports, but every four years he makes time for the World Football Cup. Do you believe there’s a limit between I FEEL I Art and Design? Yes, design has to communicate some- BELONG TO thing. You almost always have clients, others’ opinions, etc. Art doesn’t have to ANY PLACE communicate so directly and doesn’t have the limits clients impose, the size, etc. For IN THE me they are different things that at times come together, as a creator I enjoy thinking in several ways. WORLD

Between April and October 1980 around WHERE 125,000 Cubans left through the port of Mariel for the United States, in what was THERE ARE known as the Mariel exodus. Edel and his family arrived in Key West on a boat, in the midst of the apotheosis that that PEOPLE journey must have been for an eight- year-old boy. WHO

Edel has repeated in many interviews WANT that his condition of immigrant made him react to President Trump’s an- TO TALK, nounced anti-immigration policy. “I don’t agree with any dictator,” I heard him say in an interview for Univisión, and “for DANCE me, an émigré, it is an insult, that’s why I came up with the idea that [Trump] was AND ENJOY cutting off emigration’s head, democ- racy’s head.”1 LOVE AND The covers you have done related to FRIENDSHIP. Trump have surely been the ones that have had the most repercussion of your Cuban-American designer, illustrator The New York Times, Time, The New Yorker work, what has been the motivation? Is Edel Rodríguez and visual artist. His work has been ex- and Newsweek magazines. He has de- that the impact you were expecting? (Havana, Cuba, 1971) hibited in Los Angeles, Toronto, New signed numerous posters and illustra- York, Dallas, Philadelphia, Cuba, Spain, tions and book covers. He is the author I wanted the public to see the danger we among other countries. of Sergio Makes a Splash. Rodríguez’ work were running with this president. He is a forms part of private and corporative col- person who exhibits the ideas of a dictator. In 1994 he graduated with honors from lections, among them the Smithsonian The covers have had much more impact New York’s Pratt Institute. In 1998 he got Institute in Washington DC. than I could have expected. I believe the his Master of Fine Arts degree in paint- public is hungry for something like that, ing from Manhattan’s Hunter College 1 Interview on Univisión’s program Al pun- strong and direct opinions on a character graduate program. He has worked for to. Published on February 12, 2017. that deserves them. prestigious publications, among them:

44 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 45 PHOTO FEATURE Fishing for machuelos CUBA

INBy DEPTHWanda Canals A great deal of the wealth that historically has sustained the Cu- In the most isolated rolling hills lives a simple country woman ban economy, especially agriculture (amassed with sugar, coffee, who one evening offered me a cup of strong and sweet coffee mines) is contributed by the so-called orientales (people from she milks from the yard’s plants and which she processed with Cuba’s eastern region), who live at the very foot of the Sierra the mortar, the most rudimentary way. From her stool made of Maestra (a hem soaked by the sea in the south), or at its top. wood and goat skin, with the tip of her feet on the earthen floor They are country people generous with outsiders, because it’s a of the room the family uses as a living room, she comfortably sin to not answer with the gesture of the nature that gives them speaks about the problems of the Sierra with phrases such as abode, feeds them, makes life beautiful for them with magnifi- “hydric stress.” cent scenarios…. That life has another tempo and another character, at times surprising travelers: it is in the east of Cuba where And I found out that, in the neighboring bohío (thatched-roof surrealism becomes a routine. hut), in the heart of the Cuban Sierra Maestra, where it is impos- sible to install electric cables, and they are still waiting for the Living there are fishers with infinite nets that each morning solar panel...lives Byron. “Byron, stay still! Byron, boy, leave the comb the sea to snatch from the exhausted beach three mo- horse be!” In the bohío of the small Byron there are hundreds chuelos. And even so, they will repeat the hard maneuver that of verses written on the palm wood walls. Among them, my fa- “following day” in which they will always have more luck. vorite is the one that, with old-fashioned and at the same time bold elegance, pays special attention to the divorced woman in It could also happen that a man crossed your path with his head the very comfortable morning hours. coming out of a latrine, the easiest way to transport on foot the type of latrine preferred in the region.

46 Latrine man

The kite

. Byron and his horse

Family

Interior with mortar 48 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 49 Choreography

Sunset in Palmarito

50 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 51 Rainbow in the gulf

52 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 53 TESTIMONY

HEADING BACK TO CUBA FOR THE THIRD TIME, BUT IT FELT LIKE THE FIRST Yvonne & Yvette Rodríguez

Anyone who has ever visited Cuba trip. Cuban cigars are like a forbidden We may stand out in Miami, with our knows that each trip begins the minute fruit. This is something that every Ameri- big afros, big smiles and loud conversa- the plane touches ground. Clapping and can cigar enthusiast dreams of. Mingling tion. But in my parents’ homeland, we fit cheers are heard throughout the plane. with cigar vendors, sampling new cigars; right in. Those who traveled with us, all Passengers anxiously awaiting to re- it was a dream come true. English-speaking Americans, also began unite with family members and travel- to infuse their mannerisms and dialect ers excited to experience Cuba firsthand. We spent five long days eating extrava- with Cuban slang and over the top hand gant lunches at Dona Eutimia and Ate- gestures just like the many friends we My twin sister and I own a cigar brand lier Restaurant enjoying picadillo and met along our travels. based in Miami, Fl.—Tres Lindas Cubanas camarones al ajillo. Conversations paired Cigars. Accompanied by a group of cigar with Cuban fusion, Italian, Spanish, and This trip was definitely soul-fulfilling. enthusiasts, we planned a trip to Cuba for fresh seafood, never forgetting the ci- Walking the streets of Havana, listen- the annual Habano Cigar Festival. gars and coffee after each meal. ing to the drums on any sidewalk corner, mixed with rum and the aromatic scent Our itinerary included a day tour to Pinar We spent four even longer nights feast- of cigars brought the memory of my del Rio, to visit the Robaina tobacco farm, ing on lobster and sipping on aged rum grandmother back to life. She was also a personal favorite. We shared the road at San Cristobal Paladar. Drinking endless an avid cigar smoker and inspiration for with plenty of horses and ox-drawn car- cups of cafe con leche and puffing away our brand. Her presence was felt. We have very riages, passing mogotes, colorful houses on cigars at the Hotel Nacional. I wish my and endless tobacco farms along the way. grandmother could have been with us. The Cuban people feel like family. The She would have enjoyed our tour of the soul of the country can be felt along good friends in We shared a couple of our personal cigars Museum of the Orishas. I was informed the Malecón and the many streets we with the local vegueros in hopes of some that I am Chango’s daughter and my twin weaved in and out of throughout our positive feedback on our cigar blends. We sister is the daughter of Yemaya. We’ve trip. The city of Havana can be described Cuba! kept asking after they took long puffs, been told this many times here in the as an outdoor art gallery. “Do you like it?” The usual response was, States, but when a Cuban santera tells you “Yes, but it’s not Cuban.” You have to love something, you know it’s the truth. I blame our sleepless nights on the strong the Cuban attitude. Although our person- Cuban coffee and the view of the Male- al brand is made in Nicaragua, we hope to We have been in search of the perfect con from our top floor penthouse apart- one day collaborate with them. The miles Cuban cigar. But with so many choices, ment in El Vedado. How can you blame of red soil is spectacular. the decision is hard to make. It is too dif- us? The view was spectacular and well ficult to choose just one. So we prefer to worth the lack of sleep. People watching, Here in the States, my sister and I attend leave the decision up to you Cigar enthu- listening to music, sipping on Guayabita many cigar events throughout the coun- siasts, to those that dream of visiting the del Pinar rum which pairs surprisingly try. But nothing compares to the Habano island just like we have. We invite you to great with a Cuban Habano. I would do it Festival. Just walking into the conference join us on our adventures. For those that again and again in a heartbeat. center and seeing huge display cases of have never visited the island, the rumors Cohiba, Trinidad, Partagas is worth the are true. Cuba is the gem of the Caribbean. 54

54 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 55 Cuban cigars are our most intense passion! LIGHTSTESTIMONY AND SHADOWS SOSA- BRAVO

Maestro Alfredo Sosabravo (October 25, 1930, Sagua la Grande, Las Villas) is almost 90, an anniversary he will be celebrating in DEDICATION two years with a retrospective exhibition in the Havana Muse- um of Fine Arts. But before this, this man of fluid speech and a lucid mind has many plans and, to achieve them, he is working – with the spirit of a high-performance athlete – more than AND LOVE eight hours a day in his studio workshop, located in the district of Miramar.

Right now, Sosabravo – together with his inseparable, also cera- FOR CUBAN mist and close collaborator for more than 40 years, René Palen- zuela - is buried in the production of the pictorial work he will CULTURE take, for the third time, to the Italian city of Rome. For this creator – 1997 National Prize for Visual Arts - the second semester of 2018 will be of intense and feverish activity because he will visit, as part of his work, several Italian cities: Ve- rona, to “make some bronze pieces”; Murano, “some glasswork” and Albissola Marina – between Genoa and Savona – to “work on ceramics.” And everything, he said in an exclusive conversa- Estrella Díaz tion with OnCuba, “with the desire, enthusiasm, curiosity and 59 Photos: Jorge Luis Borges surprise of the first time.”

58 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 such that when in 1962 the first Art Instruc- tors School, based in the Comodoro Hotel, was founded, Armando Posse asked him to be a professor. For three years he gave drawing and engraving lessons and, later, he went on to work in a ceramics workshop to paint on the supports made by potters. But, restless as he was and is, Sosabravo started modeling clay and initiated himself in ceramics, a specialty he carried out until the early 1990s when, due to the economic crisis the island was going through and the subsequent shortage of materials, he again took up painting, until now.

This man, an insatiable reader of good liter- ature, a film and classical music lover, con- siders of great importance the hand-paint- ed works. And, although he recognizes that with the technological advances “new ways to express oneself have appeared,” the act of creating with one’s own hands is for him “the greatest enjoyment.”

Author of emblematic ceramic works like “El carro the Revolución” (The Revolution’s Bandwagon) – located in the Habana Libre Hotel - or the mural “America” (made with more than 1,000 tiles and, finally, established in 1992 in the Casa Carmen Montil- la of the Office of the City of Havana Histo- rian) – this restless maestro has found the perfect balance: in Cuba, “source of inspiration,” he paints on the canvas his imagi- Family Portrait, 2005 / Collage / Oil on canvas nation full of colorful birds and characters, and in Europe he makes ceramic, bronze, glass pieces and more recently he has Outside the Cuban borders, Alfredo Sosa- In his studio workshop – surrounded by an ing then he remained faithful to painting been making incursions into volcanic stone bravo is a renowned artist because of the almost forest/garden that he tends to with for some 10 years. “In 1960 Acosta León thanks to a proposal that came from Posi- very high quality of his proposal and be- great care and in which bees and humming- told me that the Museum of Fine Arts tano Amalfi, to the south of Naples. cause, among other things, he is always birds come to suck -, Sosabravo frequent- had made a call for the First Engraving self-revolutionizing himself, despite con- ly receives collectors fundamentally from Salon with themes of the Revolution. He Those volcanic stones turned into discs, the tinuing the line that identifies him. An- Spain, Italy and Mexico: “not so much from said to me, ‘let’s send a work!’ I answered: spectacular sculptures made in Murano other factor to take into account is that he the United States, because for more than ‘you’ll send it because I don’t know how glass assembled with bronze, in addition to has continued, for more than 60 years, ex- two decades I have been collaborating and an engraving is made!’ He patiently ex- a tight selection of the best of his engravings perimenting on different techniques and marketing with the Cernuda Art Gallery, plained how the xylography is made, the and paintings, will be the gift that maestro supports, which guarantee the constant based in Coral Gables, Miami, and it’s going simplest way. I sent a work, while he did Alfredo Sosabravo will give us in 2020, a year renovation of his work. Sosabravo has un- very well for me.” nothing of the sort.” when the Havana Museum of Fine Arts will doubtedly marked guidelines and has left inaugurate an exhibition that will revere and his imprint on Cuban contemporary art. Sosabravo affirmed with absolute frankness Sosabravo’s piece won the Acquisition Prize applaud his decades of dedication and love that he has never had obstacles in Cuba to at the Salon. Thus he went from being an for Cuban culture. Self-Portrait, 2009 / Collage / Oil on canvas With the sunny smile that characterizes sell: “no one has come to tell me what I can unknown artist to being “at the same level him, he explains without the slightest van- or cannot do, what I have to or can’t paint, of master artists like Carmelo González, Les- ity: “I sincerely don’t need to promote my- and how to do it. In that sense I feel I am a bia Vent Dumois and Armando Posse,” all of self to sell, but I recognize that it is very im- very free artist and human being and that them star engravers at the time. portant to mark one’s presence in order to fills me with satisfaction.” be taken into account; the publicity gener- And he started a feverish career of engrav- ated by being in the international circuits Speaking of his beginnings – around the al- er on wood, to the point that Acosta León is strategic, and that’s why I have exhibits ready faraway 1950 – he remembers his first used to tell him that he “looked like a ter- outside Cuba.” oil painting (“Homenaje a Lam”), and start- mite.” His dedication to the specialty was

60 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 61 ONCUBA SUGGESTS EL BIKY A GASTRONOMIC EXPERIENCE Cecilia Crespo Photos: Izuky Pérez

63 Right where the centric Infanta Street merges with San Lázaro stands El Biky, a place with an interesting and diverse gastronomic proposal that in November will be celebrating three years of its inauguration.

The acceptance it has had, among Cu- ban society as well as among foreign visitors, speaks of its undeniable and sustained quality. It is an atypical non- agricultural cooperative, located on a two-floor building that was carefully restored for this purpose, after remain- ing closed for 11 years.

In its diverse spaces it is possible to have breakfast as well as spending an enjoy- able evening. “Many clients come at- tracted by the pastry shop and then they choose something more: cafeteria, restaurant, bar,” Jorge Ibrahim, in charge of Public Relations and Human Resources, said to OnCuba.

The complex, a haven of peace despite the hustle and bustle of the city streets where it is located, stands out for its flavors and the quality of the raw materials with which they make their products.

Two floors, different menus, similar quality. The first floor has a bar and comfortable tables. With a rather informal trend, it is appropriate to make an early connec- tion with relatives and friends and enjoy light and other more elaborate foods.

Both menus are made based on organic ingredients available in the national market. The chef, with his expertise, adds a touch of elegance and creativity to each dish.

The decoration of all the areas (cafeteria, restaurant, pastry shop, bar café and restaurant on the top floor) is subtle and so- ber. The impeccable interior design functions as a declaration of love for vintage Havana from the walls, a sort of imbri- cated homage to the minimal and contemporary furniture that guarantees the guests’ comfort. The lighting contributes a unique visualization.

El Biky’s most recent proposal is the top- floor restaurant that, in addition, has a terrace for those who prefer enjoying the open air or simply combining a cigar with one of the select elixirs available in the

64 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Exquisite breads and pastries, stylized cuisine, several bars, restaurant, cafeteria… WHAT MORE DO YOU HAVE LEFT TO DO?

bar. Ideal for celebrating an anniversary or a special occasion, this elegant, sophis- ticated and alluring space provides a stylized, author and design cuisine, according to the current international tendencies and standards.

The Cuban as well as international bread and pastry shop is very much in demand. A few months ago they implemented a new and successful line of exclusive cakes.

The cocktails in any of its bars are surprising since the drinks are constantly evolv- ing in flavors, textures and presentation.

The Bar Café on the corner of Concor- dia is, like the other areas of the complex, a smoke-free space, with two levels, more intimate and welcoming, from where orders can be made from the restaurant cafeteria.

“What is it that characterizes us the most?” asks and responds Ibrahim on be- half of his fellow workers: “The fact that we have continued as we started, as we promised, defending our menu and its quality and with the same strategy of working with products available in the We want to participate in other market and interesting offers. That proposal is The sensorial experience of those who come domestic market. Our raison d’être is segments with a diverse proposal, much thought out for a university student or here is complemented with good service and the service, we don’t simply want to sell more economical but with the same qual- persons with limited resources to be able the quality of our sincere and authentic cu- food and drinks; we sell a gastronomic ity and excellent service. We hope to reach to consume and come out satisfied. We linary proposal. One day anyone can be dif- experience. Respect for the client is fun- the humblest public with our products. have been making arrangements to lease ferent if they choose El Biky. Remember that damental. For example, when there isn’t It’s a sort of important social function, another location for these purposes given 200 persons are working there for you. a certain ingredient, the product doesn’t with the community in mind, as part of the impossibility of doing so in our facility come out, we don’t change the flavor of our city that lacks places with low prices designed for the service we provide. any of the dishes, because that would be disrespectful to guests who already know Restaurant - Bar – Cafeteria – Bakery. what they come seeking for when they Calle Infanta No. 412 e/ San Lázaro y Concordia, Centro Habana. get to us.” Código ONEI 70328 / Phone. 7870 6515 / 7870 6583 E-Mail [email protected] / [email protected]

66 OnCuba Travel, Apr.-May. 2018 Apr.-May. 2018 oncubamagazine.com 67