As Cuba moved from austerity to scarcity, certain signs of recovery and growth took hold in the early 2000s, despite state policies that continued to constrain the development of small businesses and small rural landholders. One was the surprising availability of the dozen or more ingredients that traditional recipes like Moors and Christians, a white-rice-and-black-bean dish from Eastern Cuba, require. As a lifelong cook, I had the pleasure in these years of making many meals whose standard components (such as cumin, oregano and chorizo) many young Cubans had never tasted before. Here I learn how to make moros the right way, “as God commands”, from my friend Alberto’s mom, visiting from Bayamo.
