I first tasted Cuban food about 15 years ago, and I have been hooked ever since. I have an extensive cookbook collection (read: addiction), and started buying every Cuban cookbook that I could find. This one, The Cuban Table, is the best of the lot. I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “atmospheric” to describe a cookbook before, but this book has atmosphere in spades. I felt as though I was in Cuba, cooking alongside women who have been making feeding their families a priority all of their lives. The history, the passion, it is all here. This cookbook is bold, beautiful, the photographs are mouthwatering, the recipes are doable, easy to understand, and very good. There is a wonderful crossover into African food that I found fascinating. If you have any interest in Cuban food at all, this is a book for you. I can’t say enough about it. Highly recommended.

I sought out the paper version of this after attempting to read this on my Kindle. There's such rich heritage to Cuban cooking. It doesn't just look at food in Cuba, but Cuban food as cooked in places like Miami. It points out so well how cooking is tied to culture.

This is one of those books that would be a great cookbook for someone else, but doesn't work for my family. The biggest reason is that the recipes are very meat-and wheat-centered, and we're a vegetarian and gluten free family. I am currently eating vegan and gluten free, and I had a hard time finding even one recipe that I could make to try it out. I did find one, which was a simple salad (sliced avocados, tomatoes and onions with salt and pepper, vinegar and lime) that was tasty but similar to dishes I already make.

The recipes are quite traditional and many require a rather substantial amount of time. Many of them are fried, and most do not seem very healthy. There are many photos and they're beautiful, but they tend to be of Cuba and restaurants and the Cuban life, not so much of the recipes themselves.

This would be a perfect cookbook for someone interested in cooking authentic Cuban food, especially street food and comfort food. Some ingredients may be difficult to source. No nutritional information is provided.

My rating system:
1 = hated it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase, and/or would buy it again if it was lost

I read a digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.

Author: Ana Sofia Pelaez
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Rating: 8
ISBN/ASIN: 9781250036087
Sales Url: http://amzn.to/2C0GL4X
Review:
For as long as there have been families, one of the routes to developing culture and heritage has been through the family kitchen, which in this day of nuclear families, the internet, and the latest eating fads, is loosing continuity. This familial and historical aspect of cooking permeates every page of The Cuban Table: A Celebration of Food, Flavors and History. This is not a book merely of recipes, but a love-letter to Cuban cooking. The author, Ana Sofia Pelaez, clearly cherishes her subject, as does Ellen Silverman's camera. There is background from the author, and a sense of history of the recipes and culture. Now I want to visit Miami and seek out Cuban restaurants, and maybe even find my way to Cuba to stay in a casa particular (a private home with rooms for guests) and check out the family restaurants called paladares.

I have not tried all of the 100+ recipes; but I am in the process of making a dent in them. In my head which has no Spanish in it, their exotic names feel like some kind of magical incantation: Rabo encenido, batidos, quimbombó. I feel a little like I have a secret eye into the Cuban kitchen, knowing (now) that Cuban cooks are fiercely protective of their cooking secrets. Translating the food from the page to the plate feels like an adventure for me. Sadly, however, since I am not really familiar with Cuban cuisine, I have no way of knowing if my efforts (delicious as they have proven to be, even with my low carbing them), I really don't know if they hit or miss the traditional mark. I have not been intrusive with my changes. Instead of putting the picadillo filling into a ball of potato, I used peppers instead. I have to tell you, the recipe was delicious, and though the flavoring (a combination of olives, onions, garlic, cumin, pepper and cinnamon!) was like nothing I have ever had before, it felt familiar.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves Cuban food and culture, or to anyone who wants to expand their tastebuds. Let me draw the circle a little bigger. The truth is that if you have a mouth, you'll appreciate this book.