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HAVANA – Foreign art lovers are breaking bread with Cuban waiters, driversand parking lot attendants this week in a unique experience thatforces diners and chefs alike to overcome barriers of culture,language and five-plus decades of animosity between Washington andHavana. Ten prominent New York City chefs are teaming up this week with 10culinary entrepreneurs from Havana's budding private restaurantscene, cooking up savory and sweet multi-course meals from animprovised kitchen built in a shipping container. The diners aremostly foreigners in town for a major art exhibition and Cubans whoare being invited to participate in the free meals by the visitingchefs who meet them during the course of their stay. Blending contemporary American, Italian, Japanese, even Burmesecuisines with Caribbean Creole classics, it's a rare culinary treatin a country where many state-run and independent restaurants serveup dull, unimaginative fare. It's also a performance art spectaclethat's about bridging the gap between estranged neighbors andsocioeconomic classes. "The easiest and most interesting way into understanding anotherculture is food," said Sara Jenkins, the project's chef directorand proprietor of East Village eateries Porchetta and Porsena. "Andthe easiest, most uncomplicated way to make friends is to breakbread at the same table." "Project Paladar," named after Cuba's popular independentrestaurants, is part of Havana's 11th Biennial, an irreverent bashattracting 180 artists from 43 countries as well as thousands ofart aficionados and collectors. The dining project is being fundedby the donations of American individuals. For 10 days the chefs will take turns pairing off and serving upgourmet meals in the back patio of a cultural center in colonialOld Havana. Guests are greeted with a mojito and escorted to atable for 12 in homage to the maximum number of seats that thegovernment allowed paladars to have when they first opened in the1990s. With two tables of 12 seats, the organizers plan to feed up to fivegroups, or as many as 60 people, every evening. At the project's Friday night launch, an aproned Jenkins sweatedover a pan of Burmese coconut-milk curry sauce, preparing it topoach filets of freshly caught red snapper. Accompanying the maindish were tuna tartar and a green mango salad that one could ordertakeout in New York but particularly tickled the palates of Cubanfood professionals. Conversation at the tables was lively as diners introducedthemselves, hesitantly tried out second languages and turned tobilingual guests to translate reactions to each course: "Is thisbasil?" 'No, it's mint!" "I think this is an experience that has never been done in theBiennial, a very interesting sociocultural project," said KeniaEchenique, a 25-year-old lawyer and actress who fanned her mouthafter consuming the curry but said she enjoyed the flavor beforethe heat kicked in. "I think this can enrich our culture, ourpaladars, and contribute to exchange between our nations." "In the kitchen everything's simple. A sauce is a sauce," saidHector Higuera Martinez, Jenkins' cooking partner and the manbehind the stylish Le Chansonnier in Havana's Vedado neighborhood."These things we have in common, independent of the languagebarrier. It has been spontaneous." "Project Paladar" is the brainchild of Craig Shillitto, a New Yorkarchitect, artist and restaurant designer who was fascinated toread about the explosion of private restaurants in Cuba afterPresident Raul Castro revived a 1990s policy allowing them toexist, then lifted many restrictions that kept them fromflourishing. Many paladars are still little better than Cuba's dreary staterestaurants and must contend with the daily struggle to findingredients on an island long accustomed to scarcity. Some arelanguishing as they struggle to tap the limited number of visitingtourists and other foreigners, and the small number of Cubans withenough disposable income to patronize private restaurants. But an increasing number of paladar owners are forming a maturingrestaurant scene with creative, experimental chefs who are out tochange Cuba's reputation for culinary blandness. "It's hard to educate people .... because rice, beans, roast porkare really linked to our history," Higuera said. "Many (chefs)stick with what's easy to find. But I think there are many peoplewho want to try different things." Part of the inspiration behind "Project Paladar" was to supportCuba's budding foodie culture. "The idea that people still cared about food and cuisine and stilltried hard despite having no market for it was fascinating,"Shillitto said. Jenkins brought down her own cooking knives, as well as ingredientsthat would seem exotic not just in Cuba but in many Americankitchens: kaffir lime leaf, Szechuan peppercorns, a quarter-wheelof Grana Padano cheese (it's like Parmesan, only made in adifferent part of Italy). Anita Lo, executive chef and owner of Annisa, a Michelin-starredrestaurant in the West Village, stuffed her suitcase with white soyand yuzu juice for her cooking partner, one of the few Cuban chefsmaking sushi. "For someone to push ahead and still try to do something that'salmost impossible on this island ..." Lo marveled, her voicetrailing off. "Fish is hard to come by. Japanese ingredients arevery hard to come by." For all their sophistication, the New Yorkers, including several ofwhom have written books and appeared on cooking shows such as IronChef America, are also learning from the Cubans. How to make do with what's available, for one thing. The Americansalso had high praise for urban gardening in Havana, a localagroponic farm they visited where crops are grown without soil anda leafy, nutrient-rich green known as "maringa." Jenkins describedit as "slightly citrusy with a weird spice ... and an undercurrentof bitterness." "Whether we'll ever see it again," she said, "to taste somethingnew and like it and think it's interesting and how can you use it... it's fascinating." Organizers said they hope the project may create opportunities forfuture culinary exchanges, perhaps a chef-in-residence program.More such exchanges have occurred since President Barack Obamaloosened rules on so-called people-to-people travel to the islandby Americans. Curator Elizabeth Grady said "Project Paladar" is in a longtradition of food-related art projects and tries to invert theelitist dynamic of art festivals by inviting dishwashers and taxidrivers to sup alongside the well-heeled art enthusiasts whotypically patronize events like the biennial. It also gets peoplefrom two feuding nations talking to each other, even if haltinglyor through translators. "The main point is to use food as a vehicle to create genuinedialogue," she said. Call it kitchen diplomacy. I am an expert from feed-mill-machinery.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Pellet Crumbler Manufacturer , Hammer Mill Machine, Hammer Mill Machine,and more.
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