YET ANOTHER MYTH: THE PINA COLADA IS PUERTO RICAN....FALSE....IT'S CUBAN

The Cuban Pina Colada (bartender thinking)

by George Sinclair

The Pina Colada creation myth states that in 1954 a bartender by the name of Ramon “Monchito” Marrero invented the famous concoction at the Caribe Hilton Hotel situated in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Or was the Pina Colada invented in 1963 by Don Ramon Portas Mingot also in Puerto Rico. Or was it Ricardo Garcia? Or maybe "None of the Above". Or did I give the game away with the title of this article?

The literal meaning of Pina Colada is "strained pineapple", with "colada" meaning "strained" in Spanish, rather than Coconut as some misinformed people assume. The full name of the Pina Colada is in fact "Pina Fria Colada", with "Fria" meaning "cold"; an unstrained Pina Colada was simply called "Pina Fria".

The earliest reference to the Pina Fria (Colada):

Washington Post dated 1906.

"Pina Fria, a refreshment made from the juice of the pineapple".

A 1910 reference to the Pina Fria goes in a bit more detail:

"IN CUBA AND JAMAICA", by H. G. de Lisser, (1910)

"You ask for "pina fria," and he takes a pineapple and peels it and cuts it into large chunks and pounds it up with white sugar and ice and water, and hands the concoction to you in a huge, thick tumbler, and you find it delicious."

"TERRY'S GUIDE TO CUBA" by T. P. Terry (1926)

"PINEAPPLE CRUSH (pina fria colada -- cold strained pineapple juice), made by squeezing the juice (jugo) from half a pina into an ice-filled shaker and sweetened with a little sugar."

The Pina Fria is what would now be termed as a "Bebidas", simply a mixture of freshly pounded fruit, sugar and either ice and/or water; basically freshly prepared juice, extracted manually.

Bearing in mind the full name of the Pina (Fria) Colada, take a look at the following excerpt:

TRAVEL magazine (1922)

"But best of all is a pina colada, the juice of a perfectly ripe pineapple -- a delicious drink in itself -- rapidly shaken up with ice, sugar, lime and Bacardi rum in delicate proportions. What could be more luscious, more mellow and more fragrant?"

So here we are in 1922 with a rum and pineapple drink called a Pina Colada, but still there is no mention of the synonymous coconut that would excite the ladies of the 1980s. The first mention of a pina colada with both coconut and pineapple comes from 1937:

"Middletown Times Herald", (1937)

"They also sold a cocoanut[sic] and pineapple mixture called Pinacolada[sic]"

Even though the above description omits the use of rum, and the article itself didn't give any indication of the involvement of any alcohol, it does prove that coconut was associated with the Pina Colada as far back as the 1930s. Another proof of the Pina (Fria) Colada being primarily associated with the combination of Pineapple and Coconut can be found in the U.S. Ice Cream industry; the newspapers of the 1930s contain plenty of adverts for Pina Colada Ice Cream, which contained Pineapple and Coconut. The flavour of the Pina colada was so en vogue that you could also purchase pineapple and coconut malt shakes under the name Pina Colada; Once again during the 1930s.

It wouldn't be until 1950 that a solid reference to a rum, coconut, and pineapple juice drink being named Pina Colada was printed (though I am still looking for an earlier reference):

New York Times, (1950)

"Drinks in the West Indies range from Martinique's famous rum Punch to Cuba's Pina Colada (rum, pineapple and coconut milk)."

If we were to draw up a time-line for the Pina Colada, we would see that it is very different now than what it was in the early 1900s; it evolved from a pineapple juice only drink into a rum and pineapple mixture, and then finally into the Pina Colada we are most familiar with today. Somewhere along the time-line people not only forgot that Cuba was associated with the Pina Colada, but also forgot what decade it was created in.

And for the record, Coco Lopez is not an original ingredient in any of the incarnations of the Pina Colada; the sickly sweet coconut cream was created around 1954 by Ramon Lopez Irizarry, who was an agricultural professor for the University of Puerto Rico. Interestingly Irizarry's research was funded by the Puerto Rican Government, and may help to explain the drinks appropriation by that country.

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THE BIG THREE PUERTO RICAN MYTHS

Most Boricuas(the Taino Indian word for those indigenous to the island of Puerto Rico-ie;Boriken), especially those of NewYorican persuasion or those state side, have a completely distorted view of who they are and where they came from. To begin with, many that seem to fly the flag, (we've all seen the almost repulsive ways that some of these NYricans display and dishonor the flag)....DON'T EVEN SPEAK SPANISH or know anything about true Puerto Rican culture and history.....Their concept of being Puerto Rican is having parents or grandparents born on the beautiful island. Beyond this coincidence, they have absolutely no other ties to the island, neither cultural or physical. Their heritage is reflected in "flying or public displays of a "flag", and dancing "salsa" or reggaeton and ever so often exclaiming BORICUA!!! in an effort to appear to speak the language of their ancestors.....It's a sad situation stemming from U.S. intervention and occupation following the Spanish American War...This led to cultural confusion, dependence and quasi assimilation which serves to further chip away at the unique and beautiful culture and history of this great group of people known to us as Puertoriquenos...

That is why this BLOG will attempt to open some eyes, and hopefully help Puerto Rican and those of Puerto Rican descent appreciate and honor their true identity, rather than the current trend of piece mealing their heritage and culture from other cultures later to be told that they in fact are not who they thought they were. This creates a tremendous psychological burden on a society leading to lack of cohesion, cultural confusion and eventual rejection and loss of group values. This can then result in higher crime, social decadence and eventual evaporation of the historical memory of a great society......The first step is information....knowing, accepting, and dealing with these Puerto Rican social/cultural Myths, and then learning about true Puerto Rican culture, history and values. Which is one of the most fascinating, diverse and beautiful stories that our human history has to offer. Why anyone would want to censure this is beyond comprehension....In my opinion, the current lack of cultural identity/confusion, and the eventual erosion of true Puerto Rican history and culture, results from the island's present status as commonwealth (or the lesser politically correct term of colony) of the United States. Although I believe it is beneficial in many ways, primarily economically, this does not take away from the reality that dependence on a great country like the United States will eventually have consequences...In this case, social and cultural....It is a matter for Puerto Ricans to decide if their economic gains outweigh the negative impact on their culture as a result of their present political limbo as commonwealth of the United States......

THE BIG THREE:

The Flag, The Music, The Rum.

The Flag: Many Puerto Ricans think the red,white and blue, triangle and solitary star flag they proudly display is their own. In fact, although none can cite historical reasons for this assumption, this is what they believe. The truth is this flag was designed by Narciso Lopez, a masonist participating in the Cuban revolution against Spanish colonial rule. A small group of Puerto Rican nationalists based in New York City decided to join the larger and better financed Cuban independence movement under SECTION PUERTO RICO, a section under the "Partido Revolucionario Cubano", the Cuban independence party. In honor of the Cuban movement, the Puerto Rican nationalists decided to incorporate the Cuban Flag as the symbol of their movement. They inverted the colors and established the flag that eventually went on to symbolize Puerto Rico, as the flag of "Section Puerto Rico" under the "Cuban Revolutionary Party". Another fact not known by many is that the real "Puerto Rican Flag", the flag that was slated to represent the island nation of Puerto Rico, is quite different and resembles more the flag of the Dominican Republic, which makes more sense as they are neighbors.

The Music: Salsa is Puerto Rican baby!! FALSE. We will get into this at length in other posts. In essence, "salsa" is a commercial name given to encompass all rhythms of Cuban origin; Son, guaracha, mambo, rumba, etc, etc. As Cubans emigrated to the United States in the 1960's and 1970's, after communist take over in Cuba, New Yoricans joined Cuban musicians and made Cuban music their own....Cubans Celia Cruz, Justo Betancourt and the many Charanga bands that eveolved from the surplus of Cuban musicians settling in New York led the charge together with great Puerto Rican and Dominican music masters. The name Salsa was used by record companies as it was more marketable than using Cuban names like Guaracha and Son. They assumed the word Salsa from the "Echale Salsita" reference in the Cuban guaracha song: Ignacio Piñerio composed "Échale Salsita", a dance song protesting tasteless food. Though many describe this song as the origin of salsa meaning "danceable Latin music", other have described the usage in the same song as a cry from Piñeiro to his band, telling them to increase the tempo to "put the dancers into high gear". Morales claims that later in the 1930s, Cuban vocalist Beny Moré would shout salsa during a performance "to acknowledge a musical moment's heat, to express a kind of cultural nationalist sloganeering [and to celebrate the] 'hotness' or 'spiciness' of Latin American cultures". FACT: Bomba and Plena are the real Puerto Rican rhythms. Hint: A Cuban playing mariachi music doesn't make mariachi music Cuban....

The Rum: You can't believe hom many Puerto Ricans I talk to that would swear up and down, and very proudly I might add, that BACARDI RUM, is a rum originally from Puerto Rico....They are devasted to find out Facundo Bacardi first developed the rum in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba....Here is the story:

Originally founded by Don Facundo Bacardi Masso in Santiago de Cuba on February 4, 1862, Bacardi is headquartered today in Hamilton, Bermuda. The Bacardi company also owns several other brands including Grey Goose vodka, Dewar's scotch, Bombay Sapphire gin, Eristoff vodka, Martini & Rossi vermouth, Cazadores tequila, and the U.S. version of Havana Club.

Don Facundo Bacardí Massó, a wine merchant, emigrated from Catalonia to Cuba in the early 19th century. During this period, rum was cheaply made and not considered a refined drink, one rarely sold in upscale taverns. Don Facundo began attempting to "tame" rum. After experimenting with several techniques he hit upon filtering the rum through charcoal, which removed impurities. In addition to this, Facundo aged the rum in oak barrels, which had the effect of "mellowing" the drink. The final product was the first clear, or "white" rum in the world.

The Bacardi family (and hence, the company) maintained a fierce opposition to Fidel Castro's revolution in Cuba in the 1960s. In his book, 'Bacardi, The Hidden War', Hernando Calvo Ospina outlines the political element to the family's money. Ospina describes how the Bacardi family and company left Cuba after it became clear that Castro was serious about his pledges for change. However, the exit had started a few years prior to the revolution; the company moved the all important Bacardi international trademarks out of the country (to the Bahamas) prior to the revolution. The revolutionary government nationalised all Bacardi assets in the country, and like many American businesses, Bacardi declined the settlement offered.

Bacardi, despite having no business tie (in terms of production) to Cuba today, have decided to re-emphasize their Cuban heritage in recent years. In 1998, under the distinctive bat logo, the phrase "company founded in Santiago de Cuba in 1862" was added.