on fictional grounds and culinary maps
The performance begins: An audio tape plays a stream of thoughts on the Cuban Sandwich, somewhere along the way “America the Beautiful” starts playing in the background. The Cuban Sandwich text ends and the music continues. When this tune ends “God Bless America” begins; a set of congas follow to its rhythm. “God Bless America” is followed by “The Star Spangled Banner” also with congas.
As the audio plays I cut the pork into small pieces and drop them in the blender. I then add, one by one, the ingredients in the Cuban Sandwich (as I know it). I proceed to split in half ten tomatoes which I then gut with my little spoon. As the voice in the audio ends and “America the Beautiful” becomes loud I press a button and the blender joins in the patriotic music. I serve each dish with a leaf of lettuce and a split tomato, half of it filled with the light yellow paste that the Cuban Sandwich has become. After the Star Spangled Banner A Cuban danson begins to play as I enter the room with the next dish: Moros con Cristianos and later Ropa Vieja, traditional Cuban dishes whose names translate directly into Moors and Christians and old clothes. Coca Cola and red Chilean wine are served. I invite everyone to eat and the performance dissolves into the opening reception. To my surprise almost everyone eats the deviled egg-looking tomato.The images document my meals, they are 5x4 feet, printed in halves and hang from blue fabric with white stars creating the performance setting.. 
The Cuban Sandwich (audio):
The Cuban Sandwich has: Cuban bread, which is similar to French bread, French? Do we really want to be French? French bread, French toast, French fries, French kissing. . . French, well its not really French bread, its Cuban bread but it is similar to French bread. French bread may be used as a substitute when Cuban bread is not available. It also has pickles, mustard, mayonnaise, ham thinly sliced roasted pork leg and Swiss cheese, yes Swiss cheese. Swiss French? Swiss Italian? Swiss German? I guess it doesn’t really matter. Its just Swiss cheese, like, what we put in our Cuban Sandwich. Could you imagine making a Cuban Sandwich before Columbus? no wheat, I think the weather is too hot for wheat in Cuba, certainly not cucumbers, no pigs. I don’t think there were any pigs in Cuba before Columbus. Could you imagine making a Cuban Sandwich after Castro? I don't think it would be possible. I mean, I still think its too hot for wheat in Cuba after Castro. Its just the weather in Cuban don't know if you can grow cucumbers, I don't even know what weather cucumbers grow in, or mustard seed. , seems highly unlikely. You know? I was talking to my friend Vladimir the other day. He said that the Cuban Sandwich is really a Cuban Sandwich. Its the legendary Cuban Sandwich. He insisted as well that I was Cuban, probably as Cuban as the Cuban Sandwich. Do you know that they wanted to name Tampa the “City of the Cuban Sandwich”? Do you know what they put in their Cuban Sandwiches? The last time I ordered one in a restaurant they asked me if I wanted that A.T.W. Do you know what that means? It means ‘All The Way’, with lettuce and tomatoes. The Cuban sandwich does not have lettuce and tomatoes. Not in Miami, but then again what the hell do I know, after all I only know what my parents tell me and they tell me that the Cuban Sandwich has roasted pork leg, ham, pickles, Swiss cheese, French bread, mustard and mayonnaise, and nothing else. But I suppose we must adapt to the times. Now that we are in the U.S. we want to be healthy so we add lettuce and tomatoes to our Cuban Sandwich so we can say that we are getting our salad, our vegetables, lettuce and tomatoes. Well, I suppose at least tomatoes are an American crop like nothing else in the Cuban Sandwich. Lettuce, however is really Egyptian. Do you know that they used to use it as an antidote to . . . aphrodisiacs? yes, its supposed to have calming effects, lettuce. If you don't want to have sex, you have lettuce. Anyway, lettuce and tomatoes, A.T.W., the American way. Its what we now put in our Cuban Sandwich, and Swiss cheese, as well as pork, ham and pickles. What about mayonnaise? Isn't mayonnaise French? I wonder, can you have a Cuban Sandwich in Cuba after Castro? I don't know that there is that kind of variety in Cuba to have such a sandwich. So if you cant have a Cuban Sandwich in Cuba before Columbus and you cant have a Cuban Sandwich in Cuba after Castro, how many years did the Cuban Sandwich last? Is this the new Cuban Sandwich in exile, the legendary immigrant Cuban Sandwich? immigrant cows to make Swiss cheese, immigrant cucumbers, immigrant olives for French mayonnaise. Are you what you eat? Are you French? Well Actually one of my last names is French. Who the hell cares, I can’t even speak French. Are you German? no, Im Cuban! perhaps as Cuban as the Cuban sandwich with Swiss cheese and French bread, cucumbers, Egyptian lettuce, some American tomatoes, mustard seed, ham , light pork now that we have to be healthy, ATW, All The Way , with lettuce and tomatoes: the new and improved, immigrant Cuban Sandwich in exile, the authentic, legendary Cuban Sandwich. . .
The music:
I introduced the congas into America the Beautiful and the Star Spangled Banner in an attempt to create a syncretic identity as an American. God Bless America does not seem incompatible as the congas follow with ease and transform the flavor of the song, they season it. The Star Spangled Banner however has a more rigid structure and the congas can only follow by creating a polyrythm. The tempo changes radically from one note to the next and it becomes obvious that the congas can barely follow.