Food, like everything else in Cuba, is complicated. I know, I have been writing about Cuba for a couple of weeks now, and thinking about it intensively for over a month, and I should be better able to describe these phenomena. But I cannot. I am just unable to. I am still am having a lot of trouble sorting through the contrasts, and remain at the level of "on the one hand there is greatness, on the other, there are significant challenges to solve'.It could be said that one does not need to leave home to say as much, and seeing Cuba first hand made the complications all the more vivid, three-dimensional, and real.
There are government stores in Cuba and there are private markets--the picture to the right is from a government store, the one above from a private market. A study in contrasts. Each Cuban has a local government store, which records the rations that each Cuban is entitled to at a subsidized rate--the foods pictured here are what is available in the store--LOTS of extra shelf space in the store for more products, to say the least. My husband's comment was that he would never have to call home from this store to clarify what was on the shopping list. No brand choices and almost no food. One thing that I read about Cuba was that there was a 'sameness' about the food, which people who adopt Cuba as home describe getting used to. We found that to be true in our very brief visit. More on food, food avaialbility, and food shortages, despite living in a fertile tropical environment in a future post--this is a key problem for the future of Cuba.
No comments:
Post a Comment