What we love to eat!


One example of traditional Cuban cuisine, or criollo as it is called, is moros y cristianos, "Moors and Christians", rice with black beans. Criollo uses many different seasonings, with some of the most common being onion and garlic tobacco. Cassava, rice, beans, eggs, tomatoes, lettuce, chicken, beef and pork are all common ingredients.Coffee is of high quality and grown mainly for export, the common coffee drunk in Cuba is imported from Africa.

Family and Community Dynamics-

The Cuban American family is different in significant ways from the Cuban family. The Cuban family is characterized by patriarchy, strong parental control over children's lives, and the importance of non-nuclear relationships for the nuclear family. In the United States, these elements have become less characteristic among families of Cuban descent. For example, the Cuban tradition of selecting godparents for a child who will maintain a close and quasi-parental relationship with the child has begun to decline in the United States. Compadres, or godparents, are less likely to play a significant role in the lives of Cuban American children.

Similarly, Cuban American women are more likely to have greater authority in the family than in Cuba. This is in part attributable to the greater workforce participation of Cuban American women. These women, because they contribute to the household income and to the overall security and independence of the family, claim a greater share of authority and power within the household. Authority in Cuban American families has changed in other ways too. Children have greater freedom in the United States than in Cuba. For example, in Cuba young people are traditionally accompanied by an adult chaperon when dating. This is less true in the United States where young people go out unaccompanied or accompanied by an older sibling.

Religion-

Most Cubans living in Cuba identify themselves either as Roman Catholics or as nonreligious.

Recent figures demonstrate that Americans of Cuban descent overwhelmingly identify themselves as Roman Catholics. Almost 80 percent of those born in Cuba and 64 percent of those born in the United States are Catholic. Fourteen percent of Cuban migrants and ten percent of U.S.-born Cubans follow some form of Protestantism. Fully one-quarter of native-born Cuban Americans say they either have no preference or have another religious affiliation.