The everyday Cuban meal revolves around the midday *almuerzo*, the true pillar of the day: rice always present, black beans, a *vianda* (root vegetable or plantain, boiled or fried), a meat—most often pork—all bound together by *sofrito*, that foundation of onion, garlic, bell pepper, and tomato sautéed in oil. One closes with a strong *cafecito*. Lydia Cabrera grafted onto this the other memory of the island: that of Afro-Cuban cuisines, where certain dishes not only nourish the body but 'speak' to the *orishas*. Here, Creole daily life and African heritage share the same table.

Two gestures define this entire table: *sofrito* (onion-garlic-bell pepper-tomato melted in oil, the aromatic base of almost everything) and *naranja agria*, the sour orange whose tart juice, mixed with crushed garlic, becomes *mojo*—Cuba's emblematic marinade-sauce. Alongside, the African heritage brings its own vegetal signature: *quimbombó* (okra), brought from Africa, an edible link between the two shores of the Atlantic that Cabrera spent her life studying.