His next sentence explains his point - the food you get at Cuban restaurants is nothing like the food you actually get in Cuba. Most of the food in Cuba is simple and quite bland
I wonder if the Cuban food in the U.S. is the authentic version, imported by those who were able to flee the revolution, while the food found in Cuba today is the result of fifty years of poverty.
This absolutely true and I've heard it discussed in cooking shows about Miami. Thousands of cubans fled to Florida and started mom and pop restaurants, the people who stayed had to make due with meager rations and the culinary culture died.
What do you mean by authentic?
Impossible to get steady ingredients due to the embargo and low incomes, most restaurants I ate at there would make do with whatever they could secure for that week.
I had delicious food in Cuba, which was quite a surprise after reading so much about how uninspired it is. The liberalization of the restaurant scene has quickly had an impact at the tourist-friendly private restaurants.
Good, finally a place where the foodie plague can't reach