Cuban Cuisine Cuban cuisine has been influenced by Spanish, French, African, Arabic, Chinese, and Portuguese cultures.  Traditional Cuban cooking is primarily peasant cuisine that has little concern with measurements, order and timing.  Most of the food is sauteed or slow-cooked over a low flame.  Very little is deep-fried and there are no heavy or creamy sauces.  Most Cuban cooking relies on a few basic spices, such as garlic, cumin, oregano, and bay laurel leaves.  Many dishes use a sofrito as their basis.  The sofrito consists of onion, green pepper, garlic, oregano, and ground pepper quick-fried in olive oil.  The sofrito is what gives the food its flavor.  It is used when cooking black beans, stews, many meat dishes, and tomato-based sauces.  Meats and poultry are usually marinated in citrus juices, such as lime or sour orange juices, and then roasted over low heat until the meat is tender and literally falling off the bone.  Another common staple to the Cuban diet are root vegetables such as yuca, malanga, and boniato, which are found in most Latin markets.  These vegetables are flavored with a marinade, called mojo, which includes hot olive oil, lemon juice, sliced raw onions, garlic, cumin, and little water.     A Cuban Breakfast  A typical Cuban breakfast consists of a tostada and cafe con leche.  The tostada is a portion of Cuban bread which is buttered then toasted on an electric grill.  The cafe con leche is a combination of strong, espresso coffee with warm milk. Cubans break the tostada into pieces, then dunk them into the cafe con leche, as Americans would dunk their doughnuts into their coffee.  Additionally, some may eat ham croquetas,  smoky creamed ham shaped in finger rolls, lightly breaded, and then fried.  For those on the run, with no time or desire to eat, a shot of cafe cubano, Cuban coffee, will revive the dead.