NPR buried the lede in its piece on Cuban cuisine, the usual the-eating-is-bad-because-they’re-poor drone. After noting that you can get closer to the real deal in this country, whoever the essayist was quoted Maricel Presilla. Who made the excellent point that the cuisine is actually in danger of disappearing. Thanks to our insane embargo over the last half-century, each new generation of cooks loses more understanding of what it is and what it means. Ingredients have almost literally disappeared, so they “take shortcuts and use substitutes.” Heckuva job, America. Good thing the rest of the world is enlightened and can support the tourism industry while the allegedly freest people are not allowed to travel and taste for themselves. Cooks in the hotels and paladars (not paladores) are keeping the ropa vieja alive.