Squash for Chicken
HAVANA TIMES – I would first like to mention that I have been a vegetarian for more than half a century. It was a personal decision, without preaching that others should do the same.
Well, about 20 years ago I was working at Prensa Latina in Havana and every day I ate lunch in the dining hall of all the journalists, editors, translators and other workers.
It was a pleasant social moment and a tray of rice, black bean water, a vegetable, almost always squash and something processed that they called meat. Sometimes there was a small piece of fatty pork, fish sticks or, as the big pick-me-up of the week, a piece of fried chicken.
To my surprise, it turned out a lot of people wanted to sit with me. The news had been spread that I changed my little ration of meat for the piece of vegetable that they served (the squash). I never ate alone.
A few months later a coworker invited me to her house, where she lived with her parents, for lunch on a Sunday. And what was served to me for the main course was a large plate full of squash. While a little too much, I really enjoyed it and it’s a funny memory that I keep and that always makes me laugh. Note: there was also a lovely salad.
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I look at the hair style in the photograph and wonder if becoming vegetarian would bring the roots of my hair back into the activity they had 70 years ago? Ought I to abandon steak when in Canada, and abandon chicken and pork in Cuba?
I loved this. I enjoy seeing you post an opinion piece, I think your first. Please do more.