The Cuban sandwich is seen now on many menus with many variations. Ironically, back in the 1950s, if you traveled to Cuba, they didn’t know what you meant by a Cuban sandwich nor what you meant by Cuban bread.
The birthplace of Cuban bread and the Cuban sandwich as we know it today, or as many of us called it, the Cuban mix, was in my hometown of Tampa, Florida. Historian Loy Glenn Westfall believes that the sandwich was “born in Cuba and educated in Key West.” I’m not so sure about that. Cubans traveled easily from their country to the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most landed in Key West and many then went up to Tampa where a huge Cuban population flourished. So possibly, Mr. Westfall’s beliefs may have some merit. But I don’t think the sandwich to which he refers is the same that we credit to have been born in Tampa.
Per Wikipedia, The cigar industry in Florida shifted to Tampa in the mid-1880s, when the immigrant community of Ybor City was founded by cigar manufacturer Vicente Martinez-Ybor. Tens of thousands of Cuban, Spanish, and Italian workers moved to the area over following decades, jumpstarting the growth of Tampa from a village to a bustling city. The first recorded mentions of a distinct Cuban sandwich survive in descriptions of workers’ cafés in Ybor City and nearby West Tampa from around 1900, leading other historians to theorize that the sandwich as now constituted first appeared there. A travel article published by the Mason City Globe Gazette in 1934 said that Tampa’s cooking was “much more distinctive than elsewhere in the state” and lists Cuban sandwiches (along with Cuban bread) among the city’s “signature foods”. Researcher Andrew Huse states that “the old ‘mixtos’ coalesced into something more distinct – the Cuban sandwiches we know and love – an original Tampa creation.”
Cuban bread was developed by two Cuban immigrant bakers and that recipe is still alive via the long standing bakery, La Segunda. The original sandwich, obviously with Cuban bread, included mustard, pickles, ham, salami, cheese and the key ingredient, fresh roasted pork. The famous Silver Ring Cafe in Ybor City, use to make them and stack them in the window and by noon, they were sold out. In those early days, we never heard of the “pressed” Cuban sandwich which is very popular today. Also, the sandwich today will include mayo in many outlets offering it on their menu. Whatever the differences, you can’t beat a good Cuban sandwich, especially if it is as close to the original as possible. Unless you live in Tampa, you won’t find the original Cuban bread that we grew up with so use any good hoagie type bread. If you are in an area that carries Mexican bolillo bread, that is not a bad subsitute.
