It is said that immigrants to a new country cling to two things the most - their language and their cuisine. Food is a very integral part of who a person is. Describing the cuisine of a country is necessarily complex. Here is a simple overview of just a few of the most common meals in Cuba.
Cubans typically eat three meals a day - Breakfast (desayuno) is often light and accompanied by a cup of very strong and sweet coffee with milk. Lunch (almuerzo) is eaten at work or school. The main meal of the day is supper (cena) and is usually eaten later than in North America with the entire family. For economic reasons it is uncommon for Cubans to eat out in a fancy restaurant (which would require dollars). Capitalist fast food chains as McDonald's or Taco Bell do not exist in Cuba. There are, however, numerous cafés and snack bars such as the one seen here at left in Habana Vieja. It is a strictly a lunch cafeteria and deals in pesos. For just a few pesos (or about 25¢ US) one can buy all the beans and rice one wants. It isn't fancy or gourmet, but it's satisfying and cheap - see picture at right.
A mixture of cultures...
Cuban cuisine is the result of the melding of the Spanish kitchen with the cuisine of Africa. This culinary blending of tastes is called "criollo" or creole food. At left one can see Creole food being sold at a stand during a festival in Trinidad. Certain dishes can vary locally - for example on the eastern part of the island, where there is a higher percentage of people of African decent, one finds spicier dishes made with more coconut milk or the aphrodisiac, crocodile tail, served in the wetlands of the Zapata region. Chinese immigrants in Habana's Chinatown have also left their imprint on Cuban cooking.
One of the most typical dishes in all of Cuba is black beans and rice, sometimes called "moros y cristianos" (Moors and Christians - seen at right). Other typical foods are chicken and rice, and plátanos (plantains) in many variations - ripe, smashed, and fried as "tostones" or sliced while green and fried into chips called "mariquitas de plátano." A typical vegetable soup is called "ajiaco". Roast pork is also a specialty - especially prepared for a celebration and roasted on a spit over a charcoal fire. This has become, however, a luxury with the current shortages in Cuba. There are many desserts - one of the best known is "flan," a kind of custard.
Drinks...
Cubans drink coffee, tea, and mineral water. Milk is not a common beverage. And one doesn't find much Coca-cola or Pepsi on the island. The Cuban brand of cola is called "Tu-kola." Some other well known drinks include guarape (sugar cane juice), as well as some alcoholic drinks, for example, the mojito (at left with mint, rum, and lime juice) and the daiquiri, (an iced rum based drink seen at left). 
The last two were personal favorites of Ernest Hemingway who kept a second home in Cuba at his estate "La Finca Vigia," just outside of Habana. (For more information about La Finca Vigia click la Finca Vigia). Hemingway was famous for saying "My mojito in la Bodeguita, my daiquiri in el Floridita." These are two famous bars in Habana Vieja. The Daiquiri was invented in El Floridita.
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