Last Saturday morning: Havana Farmers' Market

Agro Mercado 19 y B, Havana, CubaMe at the Agro Mercado 19 y B, Havana, Cuba last SaturdayFor most tourists and travellers to Cuba, the lack of "supermarkets" is remarkable. We saw one, from the bus, as we travelled through a very rich neighbourhood in Havana. (The neighbourhood where the foreign diplomats live, we were told.) And Havana is a city of 2.1 million residents, plus tourists.

The majority of Cubans get their food from a few sources, and not one of them is El Supermercado.

The first is the ration store. Each Cuban gets a set amount of heavily subsidized food per month that they can purchase at a Ration Store. For instance, each Cuban is entitled to buy 1/2 pound of cooking oil, 7 pounds of rice, 1 bar of bathing soap (every other month), 1 bottle dish detergent (every other month), 8 ounces coffee, 1 pound of chicken, 10 eggs, etc. with their ration book. They cost very little, but really only last a small portion of the month.

Ration Store in Camaguey, Cuba (photo taken in 2007)

(My room-mate, Jill Richardson, and I must have been thinking along the same lines, as her post today on her blog www.lavidalocavore.org is also on Cuba's ration system...She took more detailed notes about the ration allowance so I'll quote from her post:

I asked our guide about the ration books, and she gave me a list of what each person receives (at a low price) each month:

7 lbs rice
4 lbs sugar (3 white, 1 brown)
20 oz beans
1/2 lb cooking oil
1 package pasta
1 lb chicken
10 eggs
11 oz fish when available (typically fish is unavailable, and they substitute chicken)

Each family also receives a bar of bathing soap every other month, laundry soap every other month, a bottle of dish soap every 4 months, and a monthly amount of toothpaste determined by the number of people in your family (a family with two adults and two children receives 1 tube per month).

Children under 13 years old receive 1 lb mince meat per month. Kids under 7 receive 1 kg dry milk every 10 days. Kids 7-13 receive soy yogurt instead of dairy. People with special dietary needs (like diabetes or HIV) receive extra rations based on their needs.

Daily Price List at La Patria Organoponico, Santa Clara, Cuba

This is where the organoponico (urban organic farm) comes in. Cubans can buy fresh fruit, vegetables and medicinal herbs direct from the farm in their neighbourhood. The farmers set the price, but generally it doesn't get too out of control because every city, and almost every neighbourhood will have an organoponico within walking distance.

There are also state farmers' markets, which are rather sad affairs. State farms generally don't produce the best looking or tasting crops, but they are allowed to sell anything above their production quota at a State Farmers Market. The state however sets the price for the produce and products, so there is little incentive to produce quality food.

There are also state-sanctioned "free market" farmers markets, like the one I visited last Saturday in Havana. Here the mood is upbeat. The produce is fresh and lovely. But the prices are high, in Cuban terms. These markets also sell meat, and yes, it would give most North Americans a heart-attack to see all that unrefrigerated pork, beef and chicken just sitting out on a grungy countertop, while the butcher whacks pieces off with a dirty machete and weighs it in a rusty scale cradle. But hey. That's why Cuban's cook, fry and stew the daylight out of meat.

Cubans can also purchase luxury food items (imports, generally) at a CUC store. These are like little convenience stores that stock items like chocolate bars, cookies, gum, personal hygene items, and a few oddly chosen food imports. Cubans must pay for these items in CUC (Convertible pesos which cost 24 national pesos per 1 CUC) and the price is high by anyone's standards for such things.

And then, there's always the black market...where you know someone who can skim items and sell them to you...and that apparently happens a lot.

Comments

[Cheryl Arkison]

This is a great report from your trip!
We went to Cuba in 2002. When we arrived for lunch at our host's he quickly absconded with our scooter, only to return 10 minutes later with an entire leg of a pig, unwrapped, sitting on the floorboard. And let me tell you, roasted all afternoon in their wood oven, that pork is still one of the best things I've ever tasted.