A 63-year-old Cuban from the municipality of Amancio, in Las Tunas, built a traditional cuisine restaurant from the ground up in Mexico City after years of selling tamales on the street at night, surviving a pandemic, and refusing to give up after every setback along the way.
Her story, shared in a video from the restaurant Cachito de Cuba, summarizes a journey of over a decade of effort in foreign land.
Mima arrived in Mexico about 13 years ago, after working as a store clerk in her hometown.
In 2016, she took her first step as an entrepreneur in the humblest way possible: standing on a corner of Gran Sur at night, selling Cuban tamales.
"I started selling tamales on the street in 2016, right there at the corner of Gran Sur. At night, we would set up to sell," he remembers.
The business was established even against the wishes of his own son. "My son didn't want me to work, but I wanted to start something, I wanted to work," he says frankly.
On social media, the venture was initially called "Mima Tamales Cubanos."
The customers she gained at that corner became her first support network: she started preparing meals from home with delivery service, and the response was so positive that they encouraged her to expand.
"My food was very well-received, and my own customers encouraged me to grow," he says.
Three years after that nighttime corner, in 2019, Mima officially opened Cachito de Cuba, her own restaurant.
But the pandemic arrived almost immediately and forced the closure of the establishment.
Rather than abandoning the project, Mima moved the operation to her home and continued cooking through delivery apps.
"The pandemic hit, and we had to close. But I continued offering delivery services from my home using the apps," he explains.
His philosophy in the kitchen is simple and straightforward: "I cook as if I were at home, as I cook for my grandson, for my son, for my family."
That same warmth is what, according to her, has cultivated a loyal clientele that has been with her since the days of street tamales.
"I treat my clients as if they were my family. Mexican clients who have really enjoyed my food," she states.
The name of the restaurant has an explanation as Cuban as the menu it offers: "The name Cachito de Cuba came about because we wanted to have a little corner of Cuban flavor here in Mexico City."
Today Cachito de Cuba operates at the Nuevo Bazar Pericoapa, in Mexico City, with a menu that includes ropa vieja, moros y cristianos, and pork bites, and is open from Monday to Sunday —except Tuesdays— from 12:00 PM to 11:00 PM.
The story of Mima fits into a recognizable pattern among Cubans who emigrate to Mexico: traditional cooking as a means of economic integration and identity preservation. Other Cuban entrepreneurs in Mexico have taken similar paths, turning the flavors of the island into a bridge between two cultures.
Las Tunas, the province from which Mima departed, has lost 11.5% of its population in the last eight years, with around 12,000 people emigrating just between 2023 and 2024, a figure that highlights the silent exodus draining Cuban villages while enriching kitchens around the world.
"Come and enjoy our food, you won't regret it," Mima says at the end of the video, with the same conviction of someone who knows that behind every dish lie years of struggle that impart a flavor that isn't improvised.
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