The Cuban sandwich. If it’s made with ingredients different from someone else’s recipe, you might find yourself in an hours-long argument in the middle of Little Havana. In Miami and Tampa, Florida, restaurant owners, historians, and Cuban Americans recount their own memories of the Cuban sandwich, as well as the story of its origins. In this episode of Gravy, reporter Kayla Stewart explores the sandwich’s long-standing origin story, new research about the Cuban sandwich, and how the South influenced the sandwich’s popularity and the current identity of Floridian Cuban Americans.

Gravy thanks La Segunda Bakery, Sanguich de Miami, and Ana Sofia Pelaez, author of The Cuban Table, for contributions to this episode.

Kayla Stewart is a James Beard Award-winning food and travel journalist, cookbook author, and a Senior Editor at Eater. Her work has been featured in Eater, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, and others.

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