Gluten-free diet in Cuba is much easier than your average Western country, but there are some pitfalls to avoid.
Wheat is not a common ingredient in Cuban food, generally speaking. In any case, most people who travel to Cuba stay at a resort, which does not serve the same food as most Cubans eat.
Most, if not all Cuban food is grown in Cuba. The quality of the ingredients is excellent. It is simply prepared. There are no fancy sauces, which works to your advantage if you have a gluten allergy or celiac disease.
I asked many times about the food at the resort I stayed at. The cook said that he does not cook with flour. Sauces are not thickened, nor is the soup.
Typical food is potatoes, rice, cassava, chicken, beef, pork. The chicken is fantastic, and organic, as is the rest of the food. We didn’t necessarily have the best cuts of beef, but it was tasty enough. The potatoes were also of very high quality.
There was some fresh fruit, although it was mostly out of season when I was there.
The problem with gluten contamination came from several sources.
They do server cakes, from the same serving trolly as the fruit. I noticed icing had got onto the fruit, possibly because people use the same tongs to serve the cakes, then the fruit. I avoided the fruit after that, much to my disappointment.
Sometimes the soup had noodles in it. If not, it was generally gluten-free, but I always asked.
They sometimes served pancakes for breakfast, with the potential for cross-contamination with adjacent food. The same goes for pasta.
Over all, it was relatively safe, but not the perfect place for a gluten-free diet. You do have to be careful, and eating 100% gluten free is not guaranteed. I felt the risk was low enough to be worth it, but not everyone would agree.
Have you been to Cuba? Did you find eating gluten free easy or difficult?