Cuisine only tourists can afford

Cuba: Cuisine only tourists can afford
By Nicholas Gilman | Contributor 05.13.09

• A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.

HAVANA – "You don't go to Cuba to eat," just about everybody had warned
me. As a food writer and restaurant critic based in Mexico, my recent
trip to Havana was an eye-opening experience.

I was able to find and enjoy delicious Cuban cuisine – a fusion of
Spanish, African, and Caribbean flavors, with a dash of Chinese
influence. However, the dishes I enjoyed are a luxury for the average
worker in Cuba, who earns the equivalent of about US$15 per month in
Cuban pesos.

With these, they are given libretas (ration books), allowing them small
amounts of basic food stuffs such as rice, oil, sugar, and flour. Other
relatively inexpensive foods can be bought with remaining pesos: beans,
fruits, vegetables, and low-quality meat.

"Luxury" items include chicken, fish, seafood, beef, alcohol, olive oil,
and cheese. These must be paid for with the CUCs (convertible pesos),
which replaced the dollar as the currency used by all tourists in 2004.
Even a bottle of spring water at the bus station was priced $1.20 (CUC)
and was not for sale in Cuban pesos. The majority of Cubans will never
experience eating a whole chicken or a plate of shrimp or lobster.

In 1995, the government allowed paladares, small, privately owned
restaurants, to operate. People opened their dining rooms to the public,
offering simple home-cooked food. Some have blossomed into full-fledged
professional operations, others retain their home-kitchen ambience.

A meal at one of these restaurants is usually about US$15, a bargain for
tourists and a windfall for locals. Despite the challenges, a spirit of
ingenious creativity prevails in Cuba.

Cuba: Cuisine only tourists can afford | csmonitor.com (14 May 2009)

http://features.csmonitor.com/globalnews/2009/05/13/cuba-cuisine-only-tourists-can-afford/