Since Fidel Castro’s recent retirement, the eyes of the world are once again focused on Cuba. For a first-person view of the mysterious island, I called cookbook author Beverly Cox at her northern Colorado ranch. She and photographer Martin Jacobs spent four weeks in Cuba as food consultants for an American company in 2006, and “Eating Cuban: 120 Authentic Recipes From the Streets of Havana to American Shores” grew out of their travels.
“Cuba was such a popular destination for Americans in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s — people thought nothing of taking weekend trips from Miami to Havana,” Cox said. “Then suddenly it was as though a sugar-cane curtain was lowered, and it was harder for Americans to get to Cuba than to Tibet or Timbuktu. And amazingly, it’s been off limits ever since.”
Do you think anything will change now that Fidel stepped down?
I don’t think that it will be too different. He is kind of all-present. People would not even mention his name — they would just pull their chin like a beard (to refer to Castro).
We were in Cuba to talk about food, not politics. I don’t think that politics is a very positive subject, but what was very positive was the way we were treated by all sorts of people in Cuba.
You didn’t have trouble talking to people?
No, the moment we said we’re Americans people would say things like “Oh, I have a cousin in Orlando.” It turns out that 95 percent of Cubans have relatives in the United States.
What surprised you most?
People don’t realize what a big island Cuba is. It has everything from mountains to seashores. It’s the biggest island in the Caribbean — there’s a lot of diversity of climate.
And, I was surprised at how kind and generous people were to us. You know if they invite you to their house for dinner it has probably taken their food allowances for a month, and they gathered their friends and families to help. It probably took their egg ration for a month to make a rich flan.
Is it that difficult to get ingredients?
Barter is a big way of life in Cuba. Marty and I were walking along and we saw people carrying big flats of eggs and other people started following them. Someone was selling them somewhere.
You know the plastic grocery bags that Whole Foods is going to ban? Those things are like gold. People carry them in their pockets — they are always on alert, if they see mangos on sale they can buy them and then trade them.
It keeps people scrambling for the daily necessities.
There’s a saying if you drop a mango pit in your garden, come back and there will be a tree.
Most of the land in Cuba is organic — they couldn’t afford fertilizer. Now, there is a trend starting to take advantage of the fact that you can grow anything, whereas meat is still hard to get. Vegetarianism is becoming popular.
One of the good things that grew out of the 1990s, the “difficult period” after the collapse of the Soviet Union when food was in short supply, was that the government began to allow small cooperatives to grow food for themselves and sell the surplus. The result of that is more farmers markets, where people can buy locally grown fresh produce.
Street food — what was that like?
Very interesting. People who are good cooks see an opportunity to make a little money. We stopped in one small restaurant where the family was preparing fried rice and potato balls stuffed with picadillo. They sell tamales out their window — it was like takeout.
But you ate in some restaurants, too?
Some of the best food in Cuba is at paladares, private restaurants — you have to put out your feelers, there’s no sign outside. La Guarida is one we talk about in the book. You have to make a reservation and you have to know where it is. I loved their baby back ribs with guava barbecue sauce and their coconut flan with curried custard sauce.
What are the culinary influences on the island?
The strongest one is Spain. You see regional Spanish influences like the caldo gallego (bean soup from Galician settlers)and the tortilla española de patatas (a potato and egg omelet).
People are surprised that Cuban food is not hot. They have peppers called cachuchas that look like a habanero but they have no heat.
But in Santiago de Cuba, on the eastern side of the island, there’s more of a Jamaican influence and people like hotter food.
There’s also a tremendous African influence: After most of the native people had been killed off, the Spaniards brought in Africans to work in the sugar plantations — bananas and plantains originated in the Canary Islands. You also have things like okra and ñame, an African yam.
Havana had a large Chinatown in the early 1900s. Chinese worked in the sugar fields after the Africans and they started the first ice cream parlors in Cuba — they brought with them a tradition of making fruit ices that can be traced back to China. That’s also why fried rice is a standard all over the island.
And Native American: Yuca is a real staple, as are other tubers. Avocados, too, they island hopped their way up from South America.
What do you think the future holds for Cuba?
No one really knows yet, but I hope that life there will become easier for the Cuban people. It is definitely worth seeing. I’ve been fortunate to travel to many countries, but this island, just 90 miles off the coast of Florida, is among the most exotic and beautiful places I’ve visited.
Kristen Browning-Blas: 303-954-1440 or kbrowning@denverpost.com
