Cuban revolutionaries in 1898 preparing a meal from wild game and foraging. The dish above is ajiaco, this and other recipes below
Esteban Montejo, a former slave who fought in the revolution with thousands of other former enslaved Cubans, recalls, "I think the thing I did best during the war was stealing livestock. . . The one who did that job gained respect." He says,"I went out every night and came back with such good calves and pigs it was a marvel." Another sources describes Cubans as carnivorous lovers of "roasted, stewed, fricasseed, deviled, and boiled" pork. The pig holds a place of honor in Cuban cuisine.