Cuba - Lonely Planet [44]
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It’s hard to categorize Interactivo, a collaboration of young, talented musicians led by pianist Robertico Carcassés. Part funk, jazz and rock, and very ‘in the groove,’ this band jams to the rafters; a guaranteed good time. Interactivo’s bassist is Yusa, a young black woman whose eponymous debut album made it clear she’s one of the most innovative musicians on the Cuban scene today. Other difficult-to-categorize modern innovators include X Alfonso, an ex-student of the Conservatorio Amadeo Roldán; and dynamic nueva trova–rock duo Buena Fe, whose guitar-based riffs and eloquent lyrics push the boundaries of art and expression within the confines of the Cuban Revolution.
In the late 1990s, US guitar virtuoso Ry Cooder famously breathed new life into Cuban son music with his remarkable Buena Vista Social Club album. Linking together half a dozen or so long-retired musical sages from the 1940s and ’50s, including 90-year-old Compay Segundo (writer of Cuba’s second most played song, ‘Chan Chan’) and the pianist Rúben González (ranked by Cooder as the greatest piano player he had ever heard), the unprepossessing American producer sat back in the studio and let his ragged clutch of old-age pensioners work their erstwhile magic. More than two million albums later, European and North American audiences are still enraptured by the sounds.
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Food & Drink
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STAPLES & SPECIALTIES
DRINKS
CELEBRATIONS
WHERE TO EAT & DRINK
VEGETARIANS & VEGANS
EATING WITH KIDS
HABITS & CUSTOMS
EAT YOUR WORDS
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Veterans of WWII rationing could get flashbacks in Cuba. Remember Spam ham, vinegary vegetables, jam from a tin and gristly meat? Well, they’re all still alive and kicking in the Caribbean. But, while there’s a certain truth in the rumor that the local chickens are born fried and salad is a euphemism for ‘whatever raw thing is available,’ it’s not all rubbery fish and microwaved pizzas. Indeed, many of Cuba’s chefs can be extraordinarily creative, and the good old-fashioned home cooking in privately run paladares and casas particulares is both plentiful and delicious.
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Moros y cristianos (Moors and Christians) is a typical Cuban meal of white rice cooked with black beans. Congrí oriental is rice with red beans sometimes mixed in with crispy pork slices.
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The key is to manage your expectations. Don’t arrive in Cuba assuming that you’ll find New York–standard delis or Singapore-style variety. Food culture here – or the apparent lack of it – is a direct consequence of the country’s Special Period when meat was a rare luxury and an average breakfast consisted of sugar mixed with water.
The upside of Cuban cooking is that almost everything is locally produced and organic. Cut into a fish in Havana and you can almost guarantee it was caught in Cuban waters. Slice open a sweet potato in Camagüey and chances are it was grown within about 500m of your plate with no added fertilizers.
STAPLES & SPECIALTIES
Popularly known as comida criolla (Creole food), Cuban meals use a base of congrí and meat, garnished with fried plantains (green bananas) and salad. Congrí is rice flecked with black beans (sometimes called moros y cristianos, literally ‘Moors and Christians’). Salad, meanwhile, is limited to seasonal ingredients (outside the posh hotels) and consists mostly of a triumvirate of tinned green beans, cucumber slices and/or shredded cabbage.
Protein means pork, and you’ll become well acquainted with lomo ahumado (aromatic smoked loin), chuletas