March 10, 2012
Worth the Cost of the Trip for the Ropa Vieja Alone
By Elaine Glusac
Cuba Libre
In the year since restrictions on travel to Cuba were eased for those on cultural exchange itineraries,new trips to the island have focused on art, history and music. Now there’s one for foodies.
Guillermo Pernot, the chef and owner of Cuba Libre Restaurant and Rum Bar in Washington and three other cities, will lead a five-day trip to Cuba next month with the tour operator Insight Cuba. The trip, to focus on Cuban cuisine, will feature visits to the Cuban Culinary Association, an organic urban farm and several “paladares,” home-based restaurants run by trained chefs as well as amateurs.
Mr. Pernot, who is from Argentina and is married to the great-great-granddaughter of former Cuban President Mario Garcia Menocal, visited three times in the past year and described the back-to-basics food as forged by necessity but resonant today. “They still make charcoal and use it to roast organic pork and local fish,” he said. “That’s what everyone wants to do in the U.S.”
The trip, from April 20 to 24, is $4,000 a person, double occupancy, including round-trip airfare from Miami.
