Julian Crews: September 2009 Archives

(Chicago, IL)  I've been so darned busy lately that I haven't had a chance to update you on www.OldHavanaFoods.com, my fledgling family food enterprise.  Many thanks to those of you who've messaged me asking for the latest on my Julian Crews: Bean Quest / WGN Morning News Blog.  

As you know, it's been almost a year now since I launched my dream to bring authentic, all-natural Cuban specialties, music and culture to Chicago.  

My easy-to-prepare stovetop meals were showcased earlier this month at the Ethnic Foods Symposium in Manassas, Virginia.  We were invited to participate by the southeastern United States offices of Anderson Daymon Worldwide (ADW) near Atlanta, GA.  ADW are the exclusive in-house food brokers for Costco. 

But with all the flooding that's been going on in Georigia and other parts of the southeast, I haven't heard back from them yet.  They've been busy dealing with the floodwaters and keeping their operations afloat (literally).

So when I get some news I'll pass it on.  Thanks to everyone who's written with so many words of encouragement.  It's much appreciated.           

  That's right.  It may surprise you to know that "Beisbol" isn't the the only game in Cuba.  Deep from the archives of Old Havana Foods comes a tantalizing piece of football history.      

For the better part of 40 years, thousands of football "fanaticos" flocked to Havana's La Tropical Stadium to see an event that historians say was alternately called the "Cigar Bowl," the "Rhumba Bowl," or officially, the "Bacardi Bowl."   Beginning in 1907, the capital city played host to America's gridiron giants for an annual holiday sports spectacular (see "Bacardi Bowl" in Wikpedia and mmbolding.com for more details).  
  
The inaugural bowl game kicked off on a balmy Christmas Day, 1907.  Sports historians say a crowd of 10,000 came to cheer the home team against Louisiana State University. Although the LSU Tigers manhandled the inexperienced islanders, 57-to-0,  sports-crazy Habaneros were hooked!

Things got really "loco" 14 years later, when the Cubans engineered a football Coup de' etat, turning the tables on their American guests.  On December 31st, 1921, a team of islanders pulled one of the biggest (and least known) upsets in college football history.  The University of Havana locked horns with the highly-vaunted  "Ole Miss" squad.  The mighty  Rebels from the University of Mississippi were heavily favored.  But the Habaneros stunned the football world with a 14-to-0 upset win.

The final score hit the mainland like a tsunami, sending shockwaves through the football-loving south.  Ole Miss fans reading the score back home figured it was a typo on the telegraph wire. But make no mistake - the Cubans were for real.  

Sadly, the last Bacardi Bowl was played in 1946. Though the island's turbulent political climate forced a suspension of the holiday bowl, older Havana sports "fanaticos" fondly remember the annual holiday happening.  No doubt Cubanos eagerly await the return of the American "futbolistas."  

Many thanks to www.andiamocreative.com for providing content and graphics for this story.