Mark Barroso produced this video about the 2011 Cuban Sandwich show.

Today - August 18 - Location Moved!

Taste of Sandwiche Cubano Food Fest

When: 11:00am - 4:00pm, Saturday August 18, 2012
Where: Hillsborough Community College-Ybor Campus, 2204 N. 15th Street Tampa, FL 33605
(moved from Cuban Club)
Ticket: free admission, $ for food

The location of the Taste of Sandwiche Cubano Food Fest has moved, but only across the street, from the Cuban Club to the campus of the Hillsborough Community College-Ybor City.

It's Here: August 2012!

Cuban Sandwich Show

The Artists and Writers Group, Inc. is presenting a month-long series of cultural events about Tampa titled THE CUBAN SANDWICH SHOW, at numerous venues in Tampa, August 1-31, 2012. The premise is that all the art, in all mediums, has as its subject, "Tampa…and/or Cuban sandwiches." Our motto: All Art-All Tampa-No Mayo.

The Cuban Sandwich Show is an expanded version of a very popular annual arts exhibition conceived by Gordon and Denise Mhyre that originated in Ybor City in 1991 and continued in Seminole Heights for a number of years.

History of Tampa Food Debated, Celebrated

Shelley Rossetter, Tampa Bay Times staff writer, says "When it comes to the Cuban sandwich, everyone seems to have an opinion."

Read her article on the Cuban Sandwich Show's Food For Thought: Formum on the History of Food in Tampa. August 11, 2012.

Art Taco: Strange Fruit

From the Art Taco blog:

"Strange Fruit, the poem set to song and made famous by Billie Holiday, was the title for the Cuban Sandwich Show's sixth event. Poets that read incuded Melissa Fair, Rhonda Nelson, Lisa Birnbaum, Don Morrill, Gianna Russo, Cole Bellamy, Silvia Curbelo and James E. Tokely. Mitzi Gordon's Bluebird Book Bus was parked outside the Grown Man Studios, greeting visitors and offering books for sale."

Seminole Heights Patch

Cuban Sandwich Show Highlights Tampa Art Community

From the Seminole Heights Patch post by David Rice.

This annual celebration of all things Tampa is organized by the Artists and Writers Group, Inc. New events this year include a symposium discussing the history of Tampa cuisine, a food festival, and the First Annual Chicken Parade and Rooster Promenade in Ybor City.

David Audet, a founder and current artistic director of the Artists and Writers Group, was one of the artists in the first Cuban Sandwich Show in 1991, which was created by Gordon and Denise Myhre of Seminole Heights.

David recently served with the Tampa City Council's Cultural Assets Committee as chair of the "Sub-committee to Identify the Historic Ingredients of the Cuban Sandwich", which was proclaimed by Tampa City Council in April as the "official sandwich of Tampa."

This month long show displays, for better or worse, the sense of whimsy, history, serious humor and other idiosyncrasies of Tampa's creative citizens.

"It's the Bread" Says Silver Ring Owner

According to Angelo Cacciatore, who founded the Silver Ring restaurant in 1947 and made Cuban Sandwiches there almost daily, the magic of Tampa's Cuban is in the bread. Cuban bread is delivered twice a day so Silver Ring customers can savor the proper freshness. See Angelo explain the whole thing in this delightful clip from "Living in America", a film by Gayla Jamison.

NPR Says It's Official

Tampa is the True Home

"After an admirable effort by the upstart Miami Cuban community, the people have chosen Tampa as the true home of the Cuban sandwich."
— NPR's Scott Finn

A war of claims and counterclaims was set off earlier this year when the Tampa City Council renamed the Cuban sandwich, "The Historic Tampa Cuban Sandwich". This decree did not sit well with fans of the sandwich in Miami.

Public radio stations WLRN in Miami and WUSF in Tampa gave themselves the task of determining the outcome by producing two radio stories and asked NPR's Luis Clemens, a senior editor from Miami, to judge.

Then a ballot was put up at The Salt, NPR's food blog. More than 7,200 people voted — 57 percent selected Tampa as the legitimate home of the Cuban sandwich.

Listen to the NPR story.

Opening Night Video

A walkthrough of The Cuban Sandwich Show Exhibition August 3, 2012, from Brigid Oxhorn on Vimeo.

Art Taco on the Cuban Sandwich (Party)

Luis over at Tampa's Art Taco blog has a story and pictures on the June 11, 2012, party for artists in The Cuban Sandwich Show. The show contains interpretations of — wait...yes! — Cuban Sandwiches. Artists include David Audet (who also curated the show), Sarah Butz, Bonnie Bowman, Linda Dawson, Melissa Fair, Mark Falls, Marlene Glickman, Stephen Gregory, Dee Hood, Doreen Horn, Laszlo Horvath, Joe Howden, Joanna Karpay, Barbara Kazanis, Stuart Kincade, Mic Knight, Bud Lee, Pete Orajirena, Chris Peattie, Fred Smith, Judith Villavianus and Matt Wiggins.

The Cuban Sandwich Show opens August 3, 2012, with a 5:30pm reception and continues at the Performing Arts Building Art Gallery on the Hillsborough Community College Ybor Campus.

How the Sandwich War Started

It started when the authors of the Three Guys from Miami blog claimed that the Cuban Sandwich originated in Miami.

That claim was quickly answered by Cuban Sandwich affectionado in Tampa who countered that the Cuban more likely originated in Tampa's Ybor City where the cigar industry migrated from Cuba beginning in the 1890s. They point to the fact that Cuban Sandwiches were on the menu of Ybor's flagship Columbia Restaurant when it opened in 1905 when (as folks in Tampa point out) Miami was barely a small town.

Read more about the battle of the breads in this piece by Tom Scherberger, food writer at the VisitFlorida website.

Rumble Meets and Eats Cuban Sandwich