June 25, 2008
Death by Cuban Sandwich
That's the title of a piece in Garden & Gun Magazine by noted author Rick Bragg. Bragg, who admits that the closest he comes to being Cuban is that he was named after Ricky Ricardo, nonetheless, pens a touching and empathetic, yet humorous, portrait of one corner of Cuban culture. Instead of denigrating the older, "Intransigent" exiles, he teases affectionately even as he acknowledges their pain. It's a shame that other writers, Floridians- some even Cuban- can't share his perception. Oh, and it's really nicely written. I'll leave you with the first paragraph.:
Somewhere in Miami’s Little Havana, right now, an old man is beating a tabletop with his fist. At his elbow is a Cuban sandwich, which strengthens his body and fuels his anger, and at his patent leather shoes is the crumpled paper cup from the café Cubano he drank, which quickens his heart. I do not have to see him. I just know he’s there, the way I know that legs on South Beach are long and tan, a six-dollar mojito will get you pretty drunk pretty fast, and ill will, even in Miami, cannot truly kill a man, because Castro has lived forever.
Posted by rsnlk at June 25, 2008 06:53 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.babalublog.com/cgi-bin/mt/hut.cgi/8705
Comments
For a second I thought this post was about me. I ended up in the hospital in Florida after eating my first and last Cuban sandwich when I was a teenager!
Posted by: Claudia4Libertad ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.babalublog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 25, 2008 09:27 PM
Garden & Gun!? What a great discovery! I must get a copy right away. Love the dichotomy. --s
Posted by: jsb at June 26, 2008 07:54 AM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
