The 90 Miles Cuban Cafe in Chicago, Illinois, encourages diners to “taste the forbidden,” offering taboo cuisine such as pork sandwiches and plantains. Meanwhile, about 1,330 miles southeast in Havana, the restaurant Nero Di Seppia allows customers to order Chicago mainstays such as pizza, along with familiar fare such as seafood pasta. While it would be incorrect to say that normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba has led to an integration of the two nations' economies, it would also be mistaken to conclude, despite a 60-year embargo, that the transfer of capital (and culture) between the two countries has been nonexistent. The mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce at Nero Di Seppia say otherwise.
This is where the edited volume 90 millas: Relaciones económicas Cuba–Estados Unidos, 1898–2020 provides some clarity. Editors Antonio Santamaría García and José Manuel Azcona Pastor include 14 essays that consider the economic relationship between...
