Cookbook of the Week: The Cuban Table
Yahoo Food’s Cookbook of the Week: The Cuban Table: A Celebration of Food, Flavors, and History (St. Martin’s Press, 2014)
The Team: Writer Ana Sofia Pelaez, who grew up in a famous Cuban family (she’s the great-niece of avant-garde painter Amelia Peláez del Casal) and writes food blog Hungry Sofia. Photographer Ellen Silverman, who has worked on many cookbooks including Gwyneth Paltrow’s My Father’s Daughter, Karen DeMasco’s The Craft of Baking, chef Kurt Gutenbrunner’s Neue Cuisine, and the upcoming Jamaican cookbook by the Rousseau sisters, Bellyfull.
Noteworthy: The idea for this book, unusually, started with the photographer. Silverman has been traveling to Cuba since December 2010, photographing locals’ kitchens for a series called Spare Beauty: Cuban Kitchens (which ultimately had an exhibit at New York gallery Umbrella Arts in 2012). She was itching to write a cookbook, though. “I wanted to include the history of Cuban food and infuse the book with people’s personal stories, as well,” Silverman told us. She met Pelaez in 2011, and they soon traveled to Cuba together, knocking on people’s doors and writing down their recipes. "It’s amazing to be able to have an idea, see it come to fruition, and have the photographs so eloquently tell the story of the food,” said Silverman. “Usually when a photographer works on a cookbook, the author has done all the writing, and the photographer goes into a studio and shoots 40-50 photographs straight.” The Cuban Table, on the other hand, features shots in bakeries, on the street, on farms, and in Cubans’ homes—it truly gives the reader a sense of place.
The Cuisine: Cuban food! But what is Cuban food? “To me, Cuban food is very simple, in a great way,” said Pelaez. “It’s very much about the ingredients—a limited repertoire—and you’re not going to do a lot to them.” Think slow-simmered beans, pork with rice, and slightly sweet desserts flavored with coconut.
Who Should Buy It: ”Anybody who really loves cooking and who wants to explore another food culture,” said Silverman. “Even if people are not interested in cooking but are interested in Cuba, the photographs give you a clear idea of what Cuba looks like today.”
Who Shouldn’t: Those who eat mainly plant-based diets. While Cuba is home to beautiful tropical fruits, the nation’s food is very much about pork, chicken, and eggs.
Must-Make Recipes: Arroz con Pollo, Mojitos, and Flan con Leche. Pelaez successfully translated Cubans’ back-pocket dishes into written-down recipes anyone can follow.
Check out more of our top-rated cookbooks:
Music maven Angie Martinez’s Healthy Latin Eating
In Her Kitchen, stories and recipes from grandmothers around the world
