Locavore on location: Cuba!

I'm just back from the land of Castro, Cuba Libres and Mojitoes, & unsurprisingly, a fascinating food culture. Obviously, I had to jump off the Alabama-only wagon for this weeklong work trip, but I dedicated myself to exploring local food and local food culture as I made my way around Havana and Camaguey, where I was working on my water and sanitation research. I'll be making a similar trip to Ghana in June and India in July - hey, my work is largely international, what else can I do? - while my counterparts here drool uncontrollably at the thought of my access to local foods in these places. I'll be making several posts on my trips to add an international perspective to our project.

In my experience, we have much to learn from the local food economies in poorer countries, where high transportation and storage costs, intact local foodways, and alternative ag/food policy have meant that more food stays nearby and is consumed locally. There is a self-sufficiency there that we've lost here because we haven't (thought we) needed it: refrigerated trucks and preservatives to the rescue! Although many are now questioning what we've lost in giving up our local food in favor of drive-throughs, frozen "meals", cheetoes, and all of the other plastic crap we settle for.

How do we respond to nasty food? Más revolución!

Beautiful market in historic Havana, the most beautiful and tragically decayed city I've ever visited - a bit like Greensboro, AL meets New Orleans times 1000 set in some dystopian (or utopian) alternate universe where the only billboards are political propaganda & the only cars are 1950s American or 1980s Soviet. The entire city, especially Old Havana - the historic center - is undergoing massive renovation and revitalization, funded primarily with tourist dollars. Many of the buildings are 300 years old and older, which to this American seems ancient; the place drips with heavy history. Cuba is experiencing unprecedented change these days as money flows in and the government shows signs of relaxing some restrictions.

So I am thinking of running for presidente. I hear there's great job security - the last guy had the job for 60 years. Más revolución! For those of you out there with sneaking suspicions that all academics are secretly communist, you have your proof, at least in my case. Idea for the University's new ad campaign: "Crimson is Red".

The vegetable and fruit markets are lively, colorful, and beautiful, with a broad range of offerings from papaya to carrots. Unfortunately, like here in America, fresh produce is expensive for many people, and getting more so, although availability there still outstrips what we have here. Meat is rarer still for many poor Cubans. There are (free) government rations for rice (2.5 kg per person per month - from Vietnam), black beans, oil and flour, and other basics, with meat distributed on a slightly less regular schedule. The everpresent black beans and rice are called moros y cristianos ("moors and christians") which is interesting if slightly offensive. The Cuban diet is heavy on the rice, beans, and veggies, with a little meat or fish on the side when available.

I've been told that most of the chicken is imported from Alabama (we are Cuba's biggest trading partner in the US), but I didn't eat any of the chicken since Eating Alabama only makes sense for this project when I'm actually in Alabama! Interesting dilemma.

I was in Cuba as part of a University of Alabama delegation and research exchange with the University of Havana; the University makes several such trips every year and has for the last few years. I was warned before going that the food was nothing special: one person on the last trip even took a suitcase of MREs (military-issue "meals-ready-to-eat" consisting of freeze-dried nonsense) after getting food poisoning on the previous trip. Knowing what I know now, that is absolutely loco. The food there is amazing, fresh, diverse, and mostly organically produced as a result of enlightened government policy and the historical shortage of chemical fertilizers, especially after the USSR fell in 1991. In fact, an estimated 30% of the total food consumed on the island is produced in urban organic gardens called organiponicos, which are highly regarded examples of how to intensively produce nutritious, local food at large scale. The farms are worked by collectives and part-time gardeners and sold on-site or in local markets. I visited several urban gardens and markets - yum city.

My typical meal consisted of fresh grilled fish, black beans, fried plantains, and salad, washed down with locally sourced liquids. I can't say that I stuck to the local fare all of the time: one official dinner offered paella (lots of rice), and sandwiches were all we could find at various points - and I'm sure the bread was made with grain that was likely imported from Russia or China. It's tough to stick to your guns on a work trip where you have no control over some of what's available to eat.

But the trip to Cuba revealed what few of us can imagine anymore: a viable, vibrant local food economy where fresh, seasonal, and sustainably grown produce is the expected norm, not some yuppie nonsense only available at stores few of us can afford. We have a lot to learn.