Cuban life and culture was centered around the dinner table and the preparation of meals in the kitchen.  It is where families, then and now, connect.  Different generations were always able to find common ground no matter how wide the chasm of differences may have been.  You could always count on a young cousin or an older aunt or uncle coming together over plates of Ropa Vieja and Tostones.  Here, everyone was equal and a democratic order existed.  You forgot about the troubles of the day and lived for the moment when "Abuela" came out of the kitchen to the dinner table with plate after plate of everyones' favorite dishes.  In exile, these moments around the dinner table became more special because family members were spread out over wider geographic areas...we only came together at holidays.  Everyone has a 'special' holiday memory or a favorite dish.  The memories are bittersweet for the older generations because of what they left behind and sacrificed to escape repression and servitude.