Dear Tampa,
Although we’re not ‘sister cities’ I feel we’re very close. We live in the same State, tolerate the same legislature and enjoy the same types of immigrant populations.
We should stick together. Have you heard that your buddy Miami has gotten slammed all over the place from the amount of our traffic, rudeness on the highways and municipal recalls to the ‘most miserable city’ status that Forbes magazine hung on us. Really; ‘most miserable?’ Have you been to Fisher Island lately?
To our credit, we really are quite a diverse ‘mix’ but the ‘mix’ I want to bring up is just a little baloney which probably has been ‘blown up’ too much by the newspapers. Actually it’s not about baloney, but salami.
The Tampa, Florida City Council voted Thursday April 19th on a resolution “designating and authenticating” the “Historic Tampa Cuban Sandwich.” Come on kids, play nice.
Let’s assemble the iconic sandwich and see ‘what’s what’ from your side of the State. We’ll start with some sweet ham, mojo-marinated roast pork, Swiss cheese, dill pickles, mustard and Genoa salami. WHAT???? Genoa salami????
‘Au Contrere’ say just about every Cuban in Miami, ‘No you don’t’.
“Oh. Wow,’’ says Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado. “Tampa certainly has a tradition, but salami is for pizza.’’ Actually Tomas, it’s pepperoni.
Adding salami to a ‘Cuban sandwich is like adding mayonnaise to a pastrami on rye. It’s edible but your Abuella would cut you out of the will. Is it really all about a slice of salami?
This is where we disagree. Although your mixed meat sandwich, the “mixto”, became popular in Tampa among Cuban cigar factory workers at the turn of the 20th Century long before Miami was mosquito infested, we’ve probably munched on many more. Yet, we all agree on one critical ingredient: Tampa Cuban bread. We’ll concede that the crunchy – thin crust, soft, doughy interior is a little different, but that doesn’t mean it’s better. And what’s with that palmetto leaf splitting the center during baking?
The sandwich smack-down between Miami and Tampa will be May 26th at the Latin Times Cuban sandwich contest in Tampa and we may find out where the ‘blubber meets the goad’. The judges will be from ‘that’ area. Who do you think will win?