Cuban

What it is

Cuban cuisine is the cooking of an island where Spanish colonial culture met African enslaved traditions and Taino indigenous farming. The 20th-century diaspora — especially in Miami and New Jersey — turned the Cuban sandwich, cafecito, and ropa vieja into US restaurant fixtures.

How it tastes

Where most Caribbean cuisines run chili-hot, Cuban food is famously gentle. The flavor base is mojo — sour orange, garlic, cumin, oregano, and olive oil — used as both marinade and condiment. Black beans cooked with bell pepper, onion, and bay leaf are at every meal.

Signature dishes & techniques

Ropa vieja — shredded slow-cooked flank steak in a sofrito sauce — is the national dish, named for its resemblance to “old clothes.” Lechón asado, whole pig slow-roasted in a Caja China wooden box, anchors Christmas. The pressed Cuban sandwich, born in the cigar factories of Tampa and Miami, is the diaspora’s most exported plate.