Coffee, rice and beans / Café, arroz y frijoles

Country side.

Flamboyan tree in Cuba.

I must say I have never seen in Cuba such an abundance of fruit as I saw on my last trip.
There were plenty of pineapples, a fruit that I would see rarely during my childhood. I think it could be due to recent government measures to increase food supplies by loosening tight controls over food distribution.Such laws have made it easier for farmers to produce fruit.

At the same time it was challenging to buy rice or beans, the most important nutrients in Cubans diet. In the last few months they have become scarce and expensive.

It felt like a punch to my stomach to know that my grandmother didn't have supplies of rice and beans because the decrease in the availability happened very fast.
Luckily we had some rice in our car for her.

My favorite Cuban coffee (Serrano) is no longer available in the Cuban shops, so this time I bought a different coffee in USA, Bustelo Cafe, a favorite of Cuban immigrants.

Later I read in the news that Cuban coffee production has decreased by 90 % and Cuba is now actually importing coffee and sugar. For several decades Cuba was a major exporter of sugar and coffee.

Soup / Ajiaco y caldosa.

Tamal.

Making tamal from fresh corn.

As winter days approach in the southern hemisphere we feel the need for a homemade stew, this makes me think of the Cuban ajiaco. This soup became very important for Cubans.

At the beginning of the Cuban food crisis in the early nineties the Cuban government organized for someone in every street to cook a huge stew known as "caldosa" every second night. Somebody would give a pigs head and every house would be asked to give at least one vegetable: a potato, a sweet potato, corn, plantain or tapioca.

Music would make everything seem to be a like party, a social gathering but it actually was an organized way of giving food to the hungry people, especially for the old and lonely, this vegetable soup may be their only food for that day.

Late at night my brother would get all excited and run home looking for a container to collect his soup and he treated it as a prize for his long wait.

Those where the years when people ate only cornmeal for lunch and dinner everyday and consequently we were hungry all the time because cornmeal only gives you a sensation of fullness for a very short time.

May / Mayo.

Mamey fruit.

Country side, Cuba.

On my last trip to my land I was stunned by the simple beauty of the Cuban country side as my eyes absorbed the beauty of the royal palm trees and the rich green background highlighting the flamboyant tree blooms.

In May the flamboyan trees give the country scenery a painting look with bright red colour concentrated in one spot or sparingly branches here and there as careless strokes from a brush.
Flamboyan flowers make the atmosphere look festive and the tree may look like it is trying on a red dress. This tree grows in sub tropical and tropical areas.

I think May is one month that feels like the real Cuba; the humid heat after a short April spring ripens the fruit, corn just ripening on the cob, mamey trees holding heavy fruit up high on top, custard apple season, lovely and peaceful cows with their calves and mangos hanging like earrings, getting ready for the next month.

Mamey is a fruit that also grows in Mexico which it is really hard to describe its flavour but every Cuban loves it in a milkshake, it has texture similar to an avocado and a rich orange colour flesh with a black seed.