Importance of food.

Food is an important symbol of culture and a source of great conflict between the Cubans and Americans in Oriente. The cooks who serve the Americans are mostly Jamaican, but “some of the Americans in Preston didn’t allow their servants to cook native” (7), fearing that the Caribbean food will somehow Latinize their children, whose American status they are desperate to preserve. Mrs. Lederer goes as far as to bring eight weighty canned hams with her family out of fear that the local food will be inedible. However, despite her best efforts, her children love the regional cuisine, and Everly grows up with a lifelong love of Cuban pastry and guavas, and by contrast hates the taste of chocolate cake.