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Thursday 23 augusT 2018

Happy Cuban Sandwich Day

ARUBA ― Cuban Sandwich know it today originated in
Day is a day to celebrate Tampa, Florida’s cigar-pro-
the traditional pressed ducing neighborhood of
Cuban sandwich and its Ybor City in the late 1800s
many variants, which have (then known as Cigar City,
spread from Tampa, Flor- the “cigar capital of the
ida’s Ybor City neighbor- world”) and caught on by
hood to restaurant menus the early 1900s. It was pop-
in all corners of the world. ular among workers in the
district’s many cigar facto-
The Cuban sandwich is a ries.
history lesson pressed be-
tween two pieces of bread. • While it’s called a “Cu-
Perhaps no other food rep- ban” sandwich after the
resents the United States’ Cuban immigrants who set-
history as a melting pot at tled in early Ybor City and
the turn of the century bet- influenced the sandwich
ter than the Cubano, which the most, the ingredients
combines elements from are also a nod to the south-
three different immigrant ern Italian bricklayers and
groups that came togeth- the German cigar workers
er, surprisingly, in the deep who also immigrated there.
south. Also, it’s delicious?
• Salami was added via
A traditional cuban sand- the Italian bricklayers, who
wich consists of ham, mojo found that placing a hot
pork, Genoa salami, Swiss brick on top of the sand-
cheese, yellow mustard wich for a few minutes
and dill pickle slices on pressed it flat and made it
crispy-but-not-too-chewy taste better.
Cuban bread, all heated
in a press, though Cuban • Mustard was a condiment
Sandwich Day celebrates and flavor preferred by the
all variations. Germans. It also didn’t spoil
in the Florida heat. That’s
Cuban sandwich fun fact why there’s no mayonnaise
• While an early cousin of on a traditional Cuban
the Cuban sandwich was sandwich–refrigeration was
born in Cuba proper, the scarce in tropical Tampa in
Cuban sandwich as we the early 20th century. q