Eating in Central Cuba

REGIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY THE VILLA CLARA CUISINE COME TOGETHER IN A DIVERSE BATCH OF FOOD GENRES, TASTES AND TRADITIONS THAT ARE NEVER AT ODDS WITH THE IMPERATIVES OF MODERNITY

OOne of the highlights of Cuba's culinary heritage is no doubt its welldefined homogeneity in the use of products, cooking ways and consumption habits, all of this hallmarked by a clientele that looks quite uniform all across the country. However, this bunch of convergences is obviously made up of several dovetailing elements, and each and every one of them is generally distinguished by its respective distinctions. That happens in most of today's 16 provinces the island nation is divided into: quite a lot from the mountainous and agricultural elements of inland Cuba, things stemming from the cities and towns, a tad from the coastal and maritime areas. The latter is geographically conditioned by the fact that the island nation's coasts are bathed by the balmy waters of the Caribbean Sea.

Therefore, the Villa Clara gastronomy reveals itself with a number of regional contributions that come together as a diverse batch of food genres, tastes and traditions that are never at odds with the imperatives of modernity. It's important to point out that this region of central Cuba is –it goes without saying- in the middle of the island nation. Placetas is the first town on the list, founded back in 1814 in the hamlet of San Atanasio de Guaracabuya, simply known as Guaracabuya.

An old saying goes “get a good name and forget about the rest”. But without precisely getting down to rest on those welldeserved laurels, certain locations like Santa Clara, Remedios, Caibarién, Sagua la Grande and Isabela de Sagua refuse to get bogged down in their historic and luring positioning. The heritage of its cobblestones –referring to the streets and buildings of majestic architecturea number of natural sites, traditions, customs and oral values are constantly preserved and renewed. And with so much to wallow in, there's an impending need to count on a gastronomy that could be up to par with that of the rest of the country and is good enough to get some moxie back, both physically and spiritually, in terms of living a genuine and knowledgeable experience.