Читать книгу Cubanisms - Pedro García-Menocal - Страница 15

Everyone’s favorite, though, is probably mamey, a fruit with a rough brown exterior, a sweet red flesh, and a single shiny black pit. Excellent as ice cream. If you have a really good meal, you can tell the chef that “Eso te quedó mamey,” which means “This thing you cooked is awesome!”

Chatinos are thick green plantain slices, fried once, smashed into flat disks and deep fried again in oil. An essential part of Cuban meals. Also called tostones. Mariquitas are fried chips made from the same plantains.

Quimbombó is an Afro-Cuban word for okra, which comes from Africa and became a staple in Cuban cooking, as it did wherever African slaves existed. Originally spelled quingombó, it is one of the main ingredients in, and probably gives its name to, gumbo, a stew that has been a part of life in Louisiana for hundreds of years. Fufú is an Afro-Cuban word for ripe plantains, mashed to a pulp and slightly seasoned, formed into balls, and added to quimbombó when cooked as a stew. It can also be made with ñame.

Snacks and Desserts

Everybody loves a little caramelo (candy) now and then. Maybe a chambelona (a lollipop) will do. Gaceñiga, merenguitos, pirulí (a type of lollipop), maní garapiñao, caramelos “rompe quijá” (jawbreakers), granizado, durofrío, coquitos, raspadura, masarreal, marquesitas, and señoritas, these are all sweet treats that are very popular in Cuba.