Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Technology

This misnamed sandwich has caused friction between US cities

The dish: Cuban sandwich, US There’s a funny thing that happens when you go to Cuba and order a Cuban sandwich. No one has any idea what you’re talking about. It’s a case of, “in Cuba it’s just called a sandwich”. Or, more likely, a mixto. But the interesting thing is that this famous snack is not native to the island nation that carries its name: the Cubano is actually American, created less than 200 kilometres from Cuba, and yet born in another world. But we’ll get to that. First, let’s eat, and for that you need Cuban bread, which is a long loaf similar to a baguette, though wider and with a softer crust. That loaf is cut into sandwich-sized hunks, which are then sliced in half and filled with yellow mustard, roast pork (sometimes marinated in mojo, a capsicum-based sauce), glazed ham and salami, plus Swiss cheese and thinly sliced dill pickles. The lot is then grilled in a deli press, which compresses the sandwich and its contents, until the cheese melts. It’s then sliced diagonally, and eaten.

This misnamed sandwich has caused friction between US cities

The dish: Cuban sandwich, US

There’s a funny thing that happens when you go to Cuba and order a Cuban sandwich. No one has any idea what you’re talking about. It’s a case of, “in Cuba it’s just called a sandwich”. Or, more likely, a mixto. But the interesting thing is that this famous snack is not native to the island nation that carries its name: the Cubano is actually American, created less than 200 kilometres from Cuba, and yet born in another world.

But we’ll get to that. First, let’s eat, and for that you need Cuban bread, which is a long loaf similar to a baguette, though wider and with a softer crust. That loaf is cut into sandwich-sized hunks, which are then sliced in half and filled with yellow mustard, roast pork (sometimes marinated in mojo, a capsicum-based sauce), glazed ham and salami, plus Swiss cheese and thinly sliced dill pickles. The lot is then grilled in a deli press, which compresses the sandwich and its contents, until the cheese melts. It’s then sliced diagonally, and eaten.

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