Comidas Ambulantes

My first meal in Cuba was street food. Driving from Jose Marti International Airport into Havana, Marty and I are intrigued by carts and kiosks along the road selling all kinds of food, from snow cones to empanadas (fried pies). It’s lunchtime and people have begun to line up in front their favorite stands. Through the open car windows we inhale an exotic potpourri of fried dough, grilling meat, and flowering trees mixed with the fumes of leaded gas. An artistically decorated trailer with a sign advertising “Pizza” catches our eye. Is Cuban pizza really different? We ask the driver to pull over so we can take a picture, and give it a try. It’s good, and somehow it is different, the same basic ingredients as other pizza, but here it tastes more ... more Cuban.