Martí, a gourmet? (+Español)
We’re talking about Cuba’s National Hero, José Martí.
I have always been interested in whether he would discuss cooking at some point. Although Martí has spoken on many topics, José Martí had never been associated with gastronomy. I researched, I searched, and indeed, he had ventured into gastronomy.
Coincidentally, this is about a subject that I always refer to: Creole cuisine. What most identifies it is that it is well-seasoned food, well-pointed in our style, and tries to eat as healthy as possible; Cubans have very bad eating habits.
The first thing I find is his article “The Sanitary Exhibition” (La América, New York, May 1884), published by Martí. It is so relevant today that it does not seem like 140 years have passed. “Eating well, which is not just about eating richly, but about consuming healthy, well-seasoned food, is the first necessity for maintaining good health of both body and mind. The anguish present everywhere in the world during this transitional era makes it more essential now than ever to immediately and carefully restore the forces that are being lost to a greater degree than in any other period.”
He wrote this during the Sanitary Exhibition held in London.
Martí wrote many works for various magazines and pamphlets in Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela, and the United States itself. Among other topics, he focuses on coffee, the nectar so appreciated by Cubans and many around the globe. He discusses its cultivation, usefulness, and enjoyment. Generally sweetened with honey and often flavored with anise, cinnamon, and nutmeg, coffee is enjoyed worldwide. I tasted it in the Dominican Republic; I had never seen or heard of it in Cuba.
Not only did Martí discuss this, but upon examining his diary, written during his final days, we can see how he devoted part of his time to describing what and how he ate. I refer to his journey from Montecristi to Cap Haitian, from Cap Haitian to Dos Ríos, and in Dos Ríos itself, from February 14 to April 25, 1895. He makes daily references to what he consumed.
He speaks of white rice, fried eggs, stewed pork with plantains and malanga, sweet potato, plantain broth, chicken with rice, roast pork cooked with coconut and fried, cornbread and cassava, creole meringue, coconut shavings with honey, and rose liqueur. He marvels at honey, stating it’s “better than sugar, which is made for coffee. It is life for a day and cures excesses,” he says of lemon honey, describing it as a highly boiled juice that cures stubborn ulcers. In the Moorish tradition, unknown in Cuba, he mentions the guacaica, a delectable bird that feeds on worms and produces a broth that stimulates the appetite…
This is a general outline of the meals from those days, but it is worth noting the freshness with which he narrates in his diary. For example:
February 14th
-…from Villalobos, to Nené’s house, the village’s madrasa, the hand. “Please excuse me,” he says as he sits down at the table where we eat, with rum and coffee, white rice and fried eggs…
-Mercedes, a Dominican mulatto, of clean and fine old age, makes us, with the firewood that her Haitian Albonó breaks on his knee, the lunch of white rice, chicken with sweet corn root, and sweet potato and pumpkin: the bread, I prefer cassava, and the ground coffee is sweet, honey bee…
March 2nd
-For me, it is the fragrant lunch, which the young man, very hunched over, sits down to enjoy with me, and Nephtalí and the daughter serve me. The lunch consists of good cheese, soft bread from the house oven, and empanadas of honor made from the lightest flour and filled with great egg. The coffee is golden, and the milk is the best.
April 5th
David, from the Turks Islands, joined us from the start of Montecristo…and it was the schooner alone, with his breeches in strips, his gnawed feet, the frock coat hanging over his flesh and the palms with its wings to the sky. He cooked the “locrio” [chicken and rice] with bacon and rice, or the stew of chicken and a few other foods, or the white fish, the good “mutton-fish” with butter sauce and bitter orange…
April 14th
-All of them (Gomez, Guerra, and Paquito), some scraped coconut, Marcos, helped by the General, skins the jutía [a rodent that is eaten]. They bathe it with bitter orange and salt it. The pig takes orange, and the skin of the jutia, on the improvised grill, over the wood fire. The three men love it.
May 17
-Gómez leaves with 40 horses to harass the Bayamo convoy. I continue writing… Rosalio, on his horse with mud up to his knees, brings me his bag from home, the affectionate lunch: “For you, I would give my life… They roast plantains and mash beef jerky, with a stone in the basin, for the newcomers. The swollen waters of the Contramaestre are very murky, and Valentín brings me a jar boiled in jam, with fig leaves…
I hope this work, which is a preliminary exploration of the subject, deserves further research. From now on, let’s keep Martí in mind when we discuss literature and cooking. A man like Martí, during such challenging times, dedicates time to reflect on the meals he enjoyed during his trip and provides a description of it in his diary.
Coconut macaroon with honey
Various servings
Ingredients:
Two cups of grated coconut, 2 cups of water, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 cup of honey.
Preparation:
Heat a saucepan with the coconut, water, and cinnamon stick and let it cook until the coconut is cooked and the liquid is reduced without sticking. Add the honey, stirring until it thickens to taste.
Note:
You can leave it very thick and have a deep dish previously greased with butter ready and serve portions. If you wish, you can also sprinkle cinnamon on top to taste.
