In last week's column we left the Cuban ajiaco simmering inside a Neolithic earthenware bowl.

SPAIN ENTERS THE CUBAN KITCHEN

Spaniards conquered Cuba and established its seven original towns between 1511 and 1519. The largest number of early Spanish immigrants hailed from the South, Andalusia, a region enriched culturally by multiple waves of immigrants and invaders.

Carthaginian settlers brought the cultivation of olives to Andalusia. Centuries later, Romans introduced wine and chickpeas and turned Southern Spain into their empire's primary producer of olive oil. Spanish cuisine was further enriched when beginning in 711 Arabs and Berbers invaded the Iberian Peninsula, bringing along a host of exotic ingredients originating from as far away as Persia and India. Moors introduced the cultivation of oranges, lemons, almonds, dates, apricots and coffee as well as spices such as saffron, cumin and black pepper. They also popularized the practice of deep-frying, which appears to have begun in the ancient Middle East.

Islamic dietary restrictions banned the consumption of two of Spain's dietary mainstays: wine and pork products including ham, chorizo and lard. Eating pork and drinking wine were considered evidence of "limpieza de sangre" (purity of blood), a sign that you were Christian as opposed to Muslim or Jewish. Jews and Muslims who resisted conversion were expelled from Spain in 1492 and forbidden to travel to Spain's new colonies. It is not a coincidence that roast pork became the centerpiece of Cuba and Puerto Rico's traditional Christmas Day Eve feasts.

Cubans, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans are avid consumers of fried foods (frituras). Among Puerto Rico's most popular are bacalaitos (codfish fritters), direct descendants of the popular Andalusian tortillas de bacalao; and alcapurrias, or fried dough of malanga (sago) and green plantains stuffed with meat or shellfish. If you have seen a Middle Eastern falafel, you know what an alcapurria looks like; they taste different because falafel paste is made of mashed chickpeas.

Early Spanish settlers introduced a catalogue of new ingredients and recipes. Imports included animal protein like pork, beef, chicken and eggs. They also imported garlic and onions. Some European crops did not fare well in the Caribbean, such as wheat, olive trees and grapes; others like sugar cane and bananas thrived.

Nitza Villapol (1923-1998) is Cuba's best-known celebrity chef of all time. Her "Cocina al Minuto" cookbook, first published in 1954, is considered the Bible of Cuban cuisine. Her ajiaco recipe includes several indigenous ingredients — aji peppers, corn, chunks of malanga, yuca, boniato (sweet potato) and tomato puree. Spanish settlers contributed ingredients of their own: garlic and onions to make the sofrito, a Mediterranean-derived preparation sauteed in olive oil; animal protein in the form of beef, pork, chicken and tasajo (beef jerky); and lime juice. According to Villapol, early versions of ajiaco included chickpeas.

AFRICA IS DRAGGED INTO THE CUBAN KITCHEN

African slaves were imported as soon as the Spanish colonization began. They were forced to work in mines, in the cultivation of sugar cane and in sugar manufacturing.

Aspects of West African culture underwent transculturation, thus expanding the hybrid nature of an emerging Cuban Creole society. African contributions were evident in speech, religion, music and diet, as well as in numerous other manifestations of material and nonmaterial culture.

African slaves and their descendants tossed their own ingredients into the ajiaco bowl, primarily plantains. Other dietary contributions include yams, Guinea hens and okra.

With the growth of the Black population, plantains, whether green or ripe, replaced yuca as the staple of the Cuban and Spanish Caribbean diet. Villapol's ajiaco recipe includes two pounds of green plantains and two pounds of ripe plantains. Curiously, 16th-century Portuguese merchants took yuca (also known as manioc) to Africa, where it became a staple.

Besides being a suitable metaphor for Cuba's hybrid culture, the ajiaco has also been a source and symbol of national pride and even patriotism — somewhat like the French onion soup in France. In a 1951 episode of her popular TV cooking show "Cocina al Minuto," Villapol claimed that the ajiaco became a truly Cuban dish when it no longer included chickpeas. The scarcity of foodstuffs and ingredients going back to the establishment of food rationing in 1962 and further aggravated by severe food shortages since the start of the so-called Special Period in 1993 make it virtually impossible for Cubans on the island to prepare anything resembling an ajiaco. One must travel to Miami rather than Havana or Santiago de Cuba to have a truly Cuban ajiaco.

Next week we will travel to Tampa for a genuine Cuban sandwich.

Luis Martinez-Fernandez is author of "Key to the New World: A History of Early Colonial Cuba." Readers can reach him at LMF_Column@yahoo.com. To find out more about Luis Martinez-Fernandez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www. creators.com.

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