WHAT IS FUFU ?
FUFU is a food of African origin, which arrived with the slaves to the Caribbean region from West Africa. The slaves were forcibly brought over to cultivate the sugar cane.
Baracoa lies at Bahia de Miel in the eastern part of the island. It is surrounded by rivers and mountains and is/was not considered an ideal place for sugar cultivation. Its main export in the modern times before the Cuban revolution was Bananas to the USA. The white french migrants predominantly engaged in coffee production which was the leading commodity of the region at that time. It is safe to assume that the White French aristocracy spoke French while the black Haitians spoke creole.
The number of Cubans of French ancestry remains unknown. In some historical works, the number of French emigrants to Cuba is reported to be over 60,000 during the Haitian Revolution. In those days the total population of Cuba was less than 1,000,0000 and the proportion of whites to blacks was about 50% whites and 50% blacks. This meant that 10–12% of whites were French refugees.
Why was I thinking of FUFU today ?
I invited some friends who had never tasted cuban friends to a Cuban restaurant and one of the dishes offered was a FUFU.
It was just simply delicious..it reminded me of my days in Baracoa, Cuba during my multiple visits over a six year period. My nickname to this day is Sultan of Baracoa! and it was an epoch of golden era of my stay in the eastern part of the island.
In my opinion, while african slaves to the other parts of the sugar growing areas of Cuba might have had their versions of FUFU, our fufu from Baracoa was introduced by the French colons coming in from Haiti. They came with their slaves, remember Haiti became a republic and Cuba and USA and many other states still had slavery present.
My friend, the late singer Ibrahim Ferrer told me that his ancestors came from Haiti. Black Haitians used to migrate to the eastern part of Cuba for many years ..
I had met creole speaking Haitian Cubans from Camaguey but they came much later, than the French migrants to Baracoa.
It is not uncommon to meet Baracoans with very french surnames, such as Colombier ..
it was nice to reminisce about Baracoa ..
i enjoyed the meal and enjoyed the company of my colleague and her family .. Certainly the food was better than what I expected, certainly was not expecting FUFU in a resto in Miami, even with all the Cuban migrants here ..
