In a country shrouded in secrecy, a mouthwatering, but little-known food scene is emerging. A Taste of Cuba offers unprecedented access into the kitchens of Cuba’s top chefs, where the country’s most delectable dishes are created and where the chefs will share for the very first time, their brilliant techniques, inspiration, and best recipes. You’ll also be given the rare opportunity to walk the streets of Cuba, to experience its vibrant, colorful culture and see its lush landscapes up close.

In this one-of-a-kind volume, renowned Cuba photographer Cynthia Carris Alonso and her Cuban husband, José Luis Alonso, take you with them on their ride through Havana and around the country, as they stop in Cuba’s twenty top restaurants and paladares—private, family owned establishments—along the way. Inside you’ll see why Cuba’s chefs are world-class resourceful and inventive, adapting their dishes based on the changing ingredients available on the market, and the chefs will share easy-to-follow instructions for you to make their best appetizers, main courses, desserts, and drinks in your home.

A Taste of Cuba offers recipes for Cuban staples, such as ropa vieja, frijoles negros, and maduros—stewed beef, black beans, and sweet plantains—as well as for more elaborate dishes, such as a lobster enchilada, eggplant caviar, fish tacos, and ham croquettes. It also shares the recipe for La Cocina de Lilliam’s life-changing bread, sweets such as dreamy alfajores con dulce de leche, Cuba’s famous coffees, mojitos, and juices, and Ernest Hemingway’s papa doble daiquiri of legend.