Cuban American culture

(Cuba Twitter)-Cuban food is varied, though rice is a staple and commonly served at lunch and dinner. Other common dishes are arroz con pollo (chicken and rice), pan con bistec (steak sandwich), platanos maduros (sweet plantains), lechon asado (pork), yuca (cassava root), flan, batido de mamey (mamey milkshake), papayas, and guava paste.

A common lunch staple is the Cuban sandwich (sometimes called a mixto sandwich), which is built on Cuban bread and was created and standardized among cigar workers who traveled between Cuba and Florida (especially Ybor City) around the turn of the 20th century

Cuban versions of pizza contains bread, which is usually soft, and cheese, toppings, and sauce, which is made with spices such as Adobo and Goya onion. Picadillo, ground beef that has been sauteed with tomato, green peppers, green olives, and garlic is another popular Cuban dish. It can be served with black beans and rice, and a side of deep-fried, ripened plantains.

Flags mingle with anti-Castro protest signs in the Cuban Day Parade in Union City, New Jersey.

US citizens of Cuban descent tend to be slightly more politically conservative than other Hispanic groups in the United States and form a major voting block for the Republican Party (GOP) in the state of Florida. Many Cuban Americans fled the island to escape the political and economic repression that they experienced under the Fidel Castro's communist government. As such, they tend to identify with the strong anti-communist stance of the Republican Party. However there has been a noticeable change since the 2008 elections, in which Democrat Barack Obama received 47% of the Cuban American vote in Florida.According to Bendixen's exit polls, 84% of Miami-Dade Cuban American voters 65 or older backed McCain, while 55% of those 29 or younger backed Obama. Showing that the younger Cuban-American generation have shifted to becoming more liberal.

The failed Bay of Pigs invasion, and its association with John F. Kennedy, left many Cubans distrustful of the Democratic Party. Ronald Reagan, on the other hand, is particularly popular in the Cuban exile community (there is a street in Miami named for Reagan). Moreover, the Clinton administration's 2000 use of armed INS agents in the seizure and return of Elián González to his father in Cuba under the direction of Janet Reno and Eric Holder may have affected the outcome of the 2000 Presidential election by stoking the passions of the exile community and serving to increase the Republican turnout in a contest that was ultimately decided by fewer than 1,000 votes in Florida.

Beverages

Cubans often drink cafe cubano: a small cup of coffee called a cafecito (or a colada), which is traditional espresso coffee, sweetened, with a sugar foam on top called espumita. It is also popular to add milk, which is called a cortadito for a small cup or a cafe con leche for a larger cup.

A common soft drink is Materva, a Cuban soda made of yerba mate. Jupiña, Ironbeer and Cawy lemon-lime are soft drinks which originated in Cuba. Since the Castro era, they are also produced in Miami.