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Cuban Foodways
Madison, WI
Vocabulary
Americas: North America and South America together.
Aroma: Odor, smell, fragrance.
¡Buen provecho!: (sounds like, bwayne
pro-VAY-cho) Enjoy your meal!
Caribbean: The islands in the Caribbean Sea. There are about 160 islands
with people living on them.
Cassava: (sounds like, ka-SA-va) A root vegetable also known as yucca
or manioc.
Caterer: (sounds like, KAY-ter-er) Someone who prepares and serves food
at an event.
Cuban-style coffee: Strong dark coffee usually made on a stovetop and
served with sugar and milk.
Cuisine: (sounds like, qui-ZINE) Food that comes from a particular place
and is prepared according to particular cooking traditions.
Garbanzo beans: The Latin American name for chickpeas.
Guantanamera: (sounds like, gwan-tan-a-MEE-ra) A famous and popular
Cuban song.
Legume: (sounds like, lay-GOOM) A plant family that includes peas and
beans.
Malanga: a starchy root closely related to taro root.
Manioc: (sounds like, MAN-e-ock) A root vegetable also known as
cassava or yucca.
Mobile: (sounds like, MOE-bill) Easily movable.
Plantain: A starchy banana-like fruit that is cooked and eaten as a
vegetable throughout the tropics.
Pungent: (sounds like, PUN-jent) Penetrating, sharp, strong.
Socialism: A way to organize a country so that raw materials, factories,
and transportation are owned by the society and not by individual companies.
Usually the government plans and controls how things are made and given out.
Socialist: Based on the political system of socialism.
Stroll: To walk in a relaxed leisurely way.
Vegetarian food: Food with no meat.
Yucca: A root vegetable also known as cassava or manioc.
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Journal Questions
Which foods are part of your cultural heritage?
Have
you ever wondered about the food you eat?
Have
you ever thought that what you eat says something about who you are, where
you come from, and what you believe?
What
kinds of rice mixtures does your family cook?
What
goes into making a traditional Cuban meal?
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Resources For Teachers
 Guantanamera:
A Poem and a Song is a grades 9-12 lesson plan on the song from the Kennedy
Center’s Arts Edge program.
Cuban
Food and Cooking provides overall information on Cuban cuisine.
 Worlds Together has produced a
well-received
video on Cuba for grades 1-6. The video “Cuba: A
Portrait” explores Cuba’s traditions, lifestyles and its historic revolution.
Provide
contextual background to Cuban history and culture by using any of these
on-line units and lesson plans:
Promoting
Place Through Architectural Heritage is a research paper that traces the
physical history of Miramar, the neighborhood in which Yolanda grew up.
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Resources For Students
At
La Guantanamera,
compare the Spanish language lyrics of the song Guantanamera with the
poem that they’re based on, Versos Sencillos by Jose Martí.
The
Wikipedia entry on Guantanamera
gives a translation of the song’s lyrics and lists many artists who have recorded the
song.
 Does your library
have this great book on Cuban folktales? Check it out! From the Winds of
Manguito: Cuban Folktales in English and Spanish/Desde los Vientos de Manguito:
Cuentos Folkloricos de Cuba, en Engles y Espanol by Elvia Perez, Victor Hernandez Mora, Margaret Read MacDonald (Editor), and Paula Martin (Translator).
Cuban
Food will tell you more about this delicious cuisine. Feel like
cooking? Try some of the recipes at Cuban
Main Dishes or Cuban
Desserts.
Tour
Havana, the capitol city of Cuba, through these photos taken by newspaper
photographer Dudley M. Brooks in 1998 for the story Behind
the Curtain: Cuba.
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Credits
Text written by Stephanie Alemán, edited by Anne Pryor.
Sources consulted include fieldwork with Yolanda Fabregas and Mario Moya
conducted by Stephanie Aleman (12/03) and Twyla Clark (8/04), housed at the
Wisconsin Arts Board. Map from
theodora.com used with permission.
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