Añoranza Cubana
Artist Statement
Añoranza Cubana (2021) is the representation of a restaurant where rich dishes elicit the nostalgic memoirs of the island of Cuba. Spanish for ‘nostalgia, Añoranza Cubana considers the powerful role food has as the binding agent in culture. A table ordained with a vivid, flavorful, and authentic spread brings people together to create delightful memories that last a lifetime.
While 2020 created many painful memories of life in a pandemic, the kitchen was the one place I soothed and experimented. In December 2020, I had the opportunity to travel to Cuba where my appetite for cooking was set on fire. Being able to hear from Mercedes Rebollar was just the perfect pinch of inspiration to ignite the blaze. Mercedes’s most vivid memories involved food. With the scent of garlic, tomatoes, and rice surrounding us, Mercedes shared two traditions passed down from the older generations to the new: 1) the secret to making the fluffiest rice and 2) what it means to be a strong woman.
Mercedes’s memories of her own childhood inspired me to look at my own. I was inspired to create dishes that transcend distance to take me back to Mercedes’s kitchen in Cuba. This project is for her. For igniting my inspiration to cook and live a life that is robust and absolutely delicious.
