Breakfast Is No Small Matter in Cuba
HAVANA TIMES – It was during a gathering of the “Literary Café” at UNEAC (the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba) in Holguín that I heard the anecdote. The title of Guillermo Cabrera Infante’s book Cine o sardinas (Movies or Sardines) wasn’t a clever wordplay to hook readers or a whimsical poetic phrase.
It was what his mother used to say when they lived in Gibara and Guillermo and his brother wanted to go to the movies. Back then, there wasn’t enough money to do both things. His mother would tell them: “Movies or sardines.” They could either eat or go see a film. They had to choose. We all laughed when we heard the story.
Now I’m remembering it because sardines have arrived at the ration store. The household was allotted two cans. I ask about mine, why didn’t they bring one for me? They’re for the elderly, I was told. This time, I didn’t get my sardines; I’ll have to go to the movies instead, I joke to myself. But thank God, we get along well at home. And I’ll eat from those little sardine cans, which look so small to me given how much I like fish.
The day before, we couldn’t make breakfast, and we were a bit down. In our house, we might go without a meal, but coffee! milk! And we couldn’t get either milk or bread. But today, we’ll have breakfast—even with sardines! My aunt served one of the cans on a plate to spread on the bread. The other can will be cooked with rice for lunch.
It’s better when products are sold per person. When they’re allocated by ration book, it’s bad news for many large families who have only one book, that little booklet the State issues to entitle you to buy essential goods).
In some households, there are so many people that when the Mother’s Day cake comes, for example, they have to share it among a crowd. And let’s not kid ourselves, it’s not a big cake. Not even medium-sized.
We started the day well. We laughed about yesterday morning’s tight squeeze. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again. And knowing how things are these days, even having breakfast in Cuba is a luxury. As a friend of mine would say, food in our country feels like something from another world. We continue to hope things change for the better soon. We haven’t lost hope.