Cuba With Little Food or Culinary Creativity
HAVANA TIMES – During my life back in Cuba as an independent journalist, I had the pleasure of visiting several other countries and learning a little about their food habits. Among those I visited, I was most impressed by the cooking in Spain and Peru, as well as Colombia.
For a Cuban who has lived through decades of privation in terms of food availability, almost any dish eaten in a foreign country felt like touching heaven. But once that “empire” of the taste buds was overcome, logic told me that the Cuban people weren’t only eating worse than they could, but also that the meals they prepared were tending to get worse.
I say this because I saw variations on dishes and products that we could perhaps have made in Cuba, but that we didn’t even value. Foods that are very well appreciated in other countries.
For example, there are a great many dishes based on avocados, which in Cuba we eat only in salads. One of the most typical examples is guacamole, a prepared avocado dip that’s very popular in the Central American countries.
Strange as it may seem, Brazilians consume avocados with sugar, or make incredibly tasty smoothies with them.
Brazilians use corn to make fuba [sweet cornmeal cake], flocos [flakes], sagu [corn pudding], farofa [savory fried corn or manioc flour] among many other derivatives. These are products with different textures and flavors that form part of their cooking traditions.
In Cuba, it’s incredibly difficult to obtain any kind of food. But corn itself, when we had it, was consumed in just two forms: tamales or majarete [sweet corn pudding].
I’ve become familiar with palm hearts here, a product that comes from the core of the Euterpe Edulis plant, a type of palm tree that principally comes from the South American countries. It’s a bit expensive – a 500 gram [1.1 lbs.] costs some 15 reales [US $3] – but its delicious taste makes up for the price.
I’m not certain if this species grows in Cuba, but I know that the heart of the banana plant is edible and resembles the heart of palm. Based on videos I’ve seen on YouTube, it also has a very pleasant flavor. I’ve been assured that in the diet of countries like Colombia, in the rural areas mostly, people consume this variety of palm heart.
My point is that the culinary mind of Cubans has grown increasingly closed.
Every so often, the Cuban government has launched some ridiculous campaigns involving proposals that generate an instant backlash in the minds of people alienated by decades of scarcity. Their proposals haven’t always been erroneous, but they’re viewed more as smokescreens than healthy nutritional advice.
From the unforgettable moringa trees seeds and leafs extolled by Fidel Castro], to crocodile meat, to cooked jutia [native rodent], lemon juice, potato peels, and banana peel candy, the nutritional suggestions advanced by Fidel and his acolytes have served more as inspiration for memes that as solutions to hunger.
Regarding the heart of banana, I confirm that there’ve been posts on the official government webpages counseling the consumption of these, but after such a barrel of crazy ideas – Who would listen to them?
Only after a time of abundance could Cubans possibly open their culinary minds. How can you eat heart of palm if you don’t even have cooking oil, salt, spices, rice or anything else to go with it? The solution isn’t to be found so simply.
The US is just as guilty in terrorism, this embargo is all about how the US wants control of the island. They will let people starve.
For the world to achieving democracy every country it political leaders must given a fair chances and judgment to practice the ideology that the majority of population preferred especially the working class which made up a greater percent of the work force . NO capitalist countries should sanctions embargo on those countries but allowed free trade among nation so these countries people and leaders can see the evidence of the recognizing fairness among nation. Whenever there is an embargo sanctions on any given country by capitalist monarchy you are putting the people to raise up against the government of the day. Which is most acceptable. It time UN assembly put on end for capitalist countries and their leaders to sanctions socialist and communist .
I am a Canadian who has been living in Cuba for many years I can attest to the extrenely poor quality of food that is served in most restaurants. Pizzas are under cooked, under seasoned, yet there are many herbs that are available to use For example Basil which is wonder on pizza but Cubans only use basil for a medicinal tea. Cuba missed out in the spice trade as the Spaniards didn’t import spices to grow like the British in Jamaica or the French in other islands. Cooking schools constantly turn out poor chefs who don’t understand some of the basic cooking skills. It is very strange that a country so rich in culture and music seems to have forgotten about enriching the tastebuds.
So I cook at home for ny Cuban family and friends who are always amazed at the different foods and flavours that can be created with local ingredients.
Cooking is an art .
The lack of creativity is an old problem that even Nitza Villapol complained about. Rice, beans, and some protein (si hay) is and always has been the standard – both on the island and in the diaspora. No vegetables but for the occasional tomato slice – hence historical high rates of anemia. An openess to eating cats (un cuento mas que nada) before an openess to eating rabbits (which procreate easilly) or frogs. Why? Because food is cultural and people find discomfort in straying too far from the familiar. You’ve got people living in Miami for decades who still won’t try anything different. As for the island, being a food desert in both lack of abundance and variety only adds to the problem. By the way, guajiros always ate jutia.
Interesting article. I know many Cuban immigrants in the USA, some who have been here for years. The supermarkets here offer a huge variety of food and yet when I eat at their homes I am always amazed at their food choices. They continue to fry eggs in as much oil as possible and the menu is the same as in Cuba, rice and beans, overcooked meat and fried plantain chips. They do seem to consume a large amount of bread. I don’t know if they are afraid to try new foods or if it is ingrained habits from years of not having food choices. I find it very curious.