After almost two and a half months of absence, former adult film star Mia Khalifa returned to her kitchen, and she did so by making Cuban food.
The Lebanese-American media figure published a reel on her Instagram account in which she showcases various ingredients and spices on her kitchen island for the dishes she is about to prepare.
“First meal I've cooked in 68 days, it's so good to be home”, he wrote in the video description, making it clear that the preparation marked his return home after 68 days away, although he did not specify the reason for his prolonged absence.
The video shows how to prepare, step by step, Cuban picadillo, white rice, black beans, and fried green plantains, or tostones.
With confidence, Mia begins to soften the beans that she had soaked beforehand and prepares a sauté “by the book”; she continues with a succulent picadillo, rich with potatoes and olives; next, she cooks the rice, and to finish, she slices green plantains and fries delicious tostones.
And to top it off, when he serves his dish, he gives another nod to the Cubans by adding an essential: a ripe plantain!
It's not the first time Khalifa has shown his affinity and taste for Cuban cuisine: throughout 2025 and 2026, he has published several reels dedicated to the island's gastronomy, including one where the text “Cuban food first” appears.
The post generated an enthusiastic response among its followers, who filled the comments with expressions like "Chef Khalifa." At the time of writing this note, the video had garnered 229,000 likes and over 11,000 comments, and it had already been shared by thousands of users.
But Mia Khalifa's connection to Cuba goes far beyond the kitchen. In July 2021, during the historic 11J protests in Cuba, she trended on the island by calling the leader Miguel Díaz-Canel "garbage," and in a second video, she quickly added an even more direct qualifier: "singao".
At that very moment, she also offered help to the Cuban people amidst the repression unleashed by the regime against the protesters. When the official circles tried to discredit her by suggesting that she was acting on someone else's orders, she replied straightforwardly: "No government pays me."
Her support for the Cuban people has not wavered over time. In October 2024, she publicly lashed out again at Díaz-Canel on social media, maintaining the same critical tone of previous years. Months later, in February 2025, she made headlines again with a viral gesture by displaying a dollar bill with the phrase "Free Cuba" handwritten on it, an image that circulated widely among Cubans inside and outside the island.
Now, Khalifa adds another chapter to his connection with Cuban culture, this time from the intimacy of his own kitchen and with the flavor of the island as the main focus.
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