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Congress is reviewing legislation that will eliminate all travel restrictions and modify banking and trade laws, which should open the f loodgates, not only for tourism but also trade opportunities between the long-estranged countries. On the food front, Cuba is certainly ripe for change. Bringing Quality Back Home In South Florida, New York City, and Los Angeles it's long been easy to find Cuban restaurants and luncheonettes dishing out classic meat dishes like ropa vieja (shredded beef stew), vaca frita (mari- nated, pan-fried beef), and pernil (slow-roasted pork). Picadillo-filled empanadas, salt cod fritters, tostones (savory fried plantains), and caramel-coated flan are other favorites. Entrepreneurial emigres have succeeded in keeping their pre-Revolution legacy alive, but in their homeland it's a different story. "When you're talking about French food in the U.S., you say, 'Oh, you should have the real thing in France,' but with Cuba, you're better off eating here," says Ana Sofía Peláez, the Brooklyn, N.Y.– based author of The Cuban Table: A Celebration of Food, Flavors, and History. Rationing and the scarcity of fresh ingredients and even dried spices make it challenging, she explains, for residents and visitors to eat well. "When I've gone to restaurants there, the largest part of the kitchen was the freezer," she says. President Obama began easing travel restrictions in 2011; rather than improving the food situation, Peláez has seen it grow worse. During a visit to Cuba in 2013, she noticed a big difference from 2000. "So many things had been forgotten," she says. "Younger people don't have a memory of maintaining traditions." Obstacles to Revival From centuries of colonization and its key position on the global trade route, Cuban cuisine developed as a melding of Spanish, Portuguese, Caribbean, and African flavors, the latter due to African slaves being brought in to work in the sugar industry. Almost every Cuban dish starts with sofrito, a sauteed trinity of green bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Sour orange juice is commonly employed for marinades. Standard accom- paniments are soupy, cumin-scented black beans and rice, and root vegetables f lavored with mojo, a blend of olive oil, garlic, onions, cumin, and lemon juice. "Cuban food is fairly simple, with a limited repertoire and a lot of varia- tions within it," says Peláez. "The ingredients have to be as good qual- ity as you can find, and this is a challenge in Cuba." Cafe con leche is another big part of Cuban culture, but the coffee industry was laid to waste after the revolution. Restaurants are state- owned and the food tends to be better at privately run paladares, eateries run out of locals' homes. But since most foodstuffs are imported, the main authentic taste for tourists to bring home are cigars. "Prior to the Cuban Revolution there were more cows than people and agriculture was an important part of the economy," says John Verlinden, a Brookline, Mass., chef and the author of To Cook Is to Love, a memoir of Cuban history, food, and music. The book and its recipes were inspired by his Cuban-born mother-in-law, Mami Aida. "Now the average person can't have beef. It's reserved for the tourists," he says. "It's a tragedy how difficult it is for the aver- age Cuban to make the simplest recipe from my book because they can't get the ingredients together." Verlinden has been traveling to Cuba with his Cuban-American husband, Oswald Mondejar, since 2001. Having seen vast tracts of unused land in the countryside, he hopes when government restrictions are lifted, people will have new incentive to break ground on farms and supply the malnourished populace with homegrown ingredients. Promising Crops, Progress to Come Verlinden is optimistic about the country's future. "I'm sure we'll eventually see specialty food products coming out of Cuba," he says, predicting plantain and yuca chips among the offerings, as well as opportunities in coffee and cacao. "Cubans are highly educated, inge- nious people, resilient and optimistic. Hospitality is alive and well, and despite the incredible adversity of their lives, they have parties at the drop of a hat." While it's not quite yet time to break out the daiquiris and mojitos, the seeds of change show plenty of promise. The effects of an embargo imposed since 1960 won't disappear overnight. "Cuba has a lot of catching up to do," says Peláez.—J.B. SPRING 2015 65