In Sydney’s south-western suburbs, a group of Cuban families get together to celebrate Pablo Sanchez’s birthday... with rum and cigars, roast pork, rice and beans...

Needless to say there’s rum - proper frozen daiquiris in fact whizzed up by Pablo’s son-in-law Luis, plus real Havana cigars and samba dancing. On the food front, hostess Nancy Sanchez prepares meltingly tender roast pork, marinated in garlic and lemon juice... the Cubans would use sour oranges which aren’t available here: tostones - plantain or green cooking banana rounds, deep fried and flattened with a special tostone pounder: and the classic accompaniment - congri. It’s basically a simple rice and beans combination - also known as moros y cristianos (Moors and Christians) due to the contrasting colours of the black beans and the white rice. This type of dish is common all over Central, Latin and South America.