Cortadito

The Miami Herald food columnist explores the culinary traditions of Cuba—and their strange new life in America—in this memoir of an exiled gourmand.

In the sprawling Cortadito, Enrique Fernández explores contemporary Cuban cuisine through personal memories of growing up on the pre-revolutionary island. In his sensual journey through the origin and evolution of Cuban food staples, Fernández wonders what shapes flavor: is it the soil or the community—whether at home or abroad? As an exile, he affirms, “I will continue to sample the crumbs that fall from [Cuba’s] table and be thankful and resentful at the same time.”