Spanish+Heritage+Essay+FT

=Essay:= There are many different people who were born in many different countries, but there is one where my whole mom's side of her family was born and that is Cuba. When my mom told me that I have Cuban blood I really didn't believe her because I am close to being the whitest person in the whole 8th grade at Incarnation Catholic School. After thinking about my great grandmother and my grandmother and how they are, they are Cuban alright. Now back to what I am going to be writing about in this essay, there will be three things that I will be mainly talking about. Those things are: Cuban foods, Cuban literature, and Cuban music. Hopefully you will learn a little about Cuba in this essay just like I did.

The first topic I am writing about is food. Now when you hear the word Cuba and you ask someone, "What food do you think is from Cuba?" I believe 95% of people would say the Cuban sandwich. The Cuban sandwich is a very famous sandwich around the world but the very first ones where in the 1800's in Cuba and Florida. When you hear Florida, you might think that I am joking with you, but really Cubans would travel down, mainly to Key West, and make these sandwiches. Another type of food very famous in Cuba was the medianoche sandwich. The medianoche sandwich is very similar to a Cuban sandwich except that Cuban bread is replaced by an egg loaf and ham is sometimes excluded. A cool thing about the medianoche sandwich is that it means "midnight" and it's very popular as a midnight snack in clubs at Havana and other places. Another sandwich of Cuba is the "Elena Ruz". Elena Ruz was a young society debutante in 1930s who would stop at El Carmelo, a popular restaurant and confectionery shop in Havana, and ask the waiter to make a sandwich to her orders. It is prepared on white or Cuban bread, with a layer of cream cheese on one slice, a layer of strawberry jam, and thin slices of turkey breast in between. The //frita// became popular in Cuba in the 1930s. The frita is the Cuban version of an American hamburger, but with many changes. They mix ground beef and ground chorizo. They then fry the small patties on a griddle. Then the small patty is served on a small piece of Cuban bread and topped with onion and julienne potato fries and sometimes with ketchup.

The second topic is Cuba's literature. Cuban literature began to find its voice in the early 19th century. After the abolition of slavery in 1886, the focus on Cuban literature was shifted. The Spanish literature began in the Cuban territory. Cuban writings began with poetry and a couple other famous works written in the 17th century. There were no plays being preformed until 1739 when a Cuban appeared in Sevilla. The play was a comedy that showed the artificial expressions of the time. The first book of integral short stories by a Cuban author was //Lecturas de Pascuas// by Esteban Borrero, published in 1899. From 1960 to 1966, short stories were decreasing and not a lot of people were making these short stories, but in 1966, a new boom began with the publication of “Los años duros” by Jesús Díaz. In the beginning of the 19th century, literature was being written for the young children and was becoming very popular.

The third and last topic is the music Cubans listen to and the music Cubans like to make. The music of Cuba, played by many different instruments, preformed and danced to, compromises a lot of unique traditions influenced by west African and European music. From the 18th century to modern times, Cubans often like to dance while they are listening to music. The first theatre in Havana opened in 1776, and the first Cuban-composed opera appeared in 1807. Some of the most popular music genres are rumba, Afro-Cuban jazz, salsa, dubstep soukous. The guitar has been known in Cuba ever since the discovery of the island by Spain around the 16th century. After the Cuban revolution in 1959, Isaac Nicola and other professors were integrated to the national music schools system.

Now that you know a little more about Cuba and what food they eat, what there literature is, and some of the music they listen to, you can share a little of this information with your family and friends and blow some minds. I know that I learned more about my mom's side of her family and how they lived and how they lived back then. One thing that I learned from this essay is the medianoche sandwich and how cool it is how it means midnight and it is known to be eaten in the middle of the night as a snack. That's pretty awesome to have a go to snack at the middle of the night when your in a club mainly in Havana. Thank you and have a great day.

= = =Work Cited:= "Cuba Facts and Culture." Cuba Facts, Culture, Recipes, Language, Government, Eating, Geography, Maps, History, Weather, News, Economy, Family, Fashion, <span style="background-color: transparent !important; border-image: none !important !important; border: currentColor !important; display: inline-block !important; float: none !important; font-weight: bold !important; height: auto !important; margin: 0px !important; min-height: 0px !important; min-width: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; text-decoration: underline !important; text-indent: 0px !important; text-transform: uppercase !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: auto !important;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
 * This website gives a lot of good information for what I am <span style="background-color: transparent !important; border-image: none !important !important; border: currentColor !important; display: inline-block !important; float: none !important; font-weight: bold !important; height: auto !important; margin: 0px !important; min-height: 0px !important; min-width: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; text-decoration: underline !important; text-indent: 0px !important; text-transform: uppercase !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: auto !important;">[[image:https://cdncache-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png height="10"]] for which is Cuba.

"Cuba." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
 * This website has a lot of information about Cuba and is good for what I need for this class.

"Sport." Autntica Cuba Staging Sport Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. <[|http://autenticacuba.com/culture/sport/#axzz3YFOdxMOg]>.
 * This information gave me what I needed and is very good to use.