| We were waiting for our food with flies buzzing | | | | food chain El Rapido. You find their ice cold, air |
| around us. The windows were covered with thick | | | | conditioned, eating places in a surprising number of |
| curtains; the table clothes were dirty after the | | | | towns. The Bocadillo, ham and cheese rolls, are |
| weekend. When we had waited for a long time, a | | | | tasty and they fill your stomach easily for a dollar |
| young waitress brought our plates and put them | | | | or so. Also the Palmere restaurants are tidy and |
| in front of us, Spaghetti Bolognese and lasagna: | | | | reasonably priced eating places. They offer mainly |
| pasta with ketchup, a little cheese and a grey, | | | | pizzas, hamburgers and other kinds of fast food. |
| horribly smelling shaking cube. | | | | At the street kiosks you can buy juicy slices of |
| Out of words we looked at each other; is it for | | | | pizza, they are popular fast food places for the |
| this treatment and food that people queue night | | | | locals. |
| after night? We had seen long queues in front of | | | | The menu of the restaurants and bars are often |
| the peso-restaurants and had decided to try a | | | | only in Spanish and the price and variety of meals |
| local popular pizzeria. On Monday at lunch time | | | | differs depending on the availability of supplies and |
| there was no queue in the street, but we had had | | | | how big the customer's wallet is seen and |
| to wait in a small lobby before we were called to | | | | whether the keeper has to pay provision to the |
| enter the almost empty restaurant. | | | | jinitero, a kind of a hustler. |
| Today we do not serve pizza, announced the | | | | In this two-currency country there are two kinds |
| head waiter, a middle-aged woman, dressed in a | | | | of shops: the peso-shops for the locals and |
| white blouse and a tight blue skirt like the state | | | | exchangeable peso currency-shops. The |
| servants always are in Cuba. | | | | peso-shops are traditional general stores or |
| The lasagna was taken away almost untouched. | | | | service windows where the sellers are behind a |
| The waitress looked questioningly at me and I | | | | desk selling whatever happens to be available for |
| told her cautiously that the food was not in my | | | | sale. You can buy fresh food at the agropecuario |
| taste. We paid the bill, the food cost 12 national | | | | stores (agriculture shops / markets) and bread at |
| pesos but the big bottle of water had to be paid | | | | the bakeries, which seem to be open around the |
| in convertible pesos (CUC). It cost us 1.5 CUC and | | | | clock. In the peso shops the atmosphere is often |
| we left the pizzeria with our heads lowered. | | | | very quiet and depressed. |
| You have to eat every day and one of the | | | | In the weekends and during rush hours people |
| biggest delights of a trip is the food. But in Cuba it | | | | have to queue for the hard currency stores; |
| is no use to await good experiences regarding | | | | those people that happen to have hard currency. |
| taste. The food is tasteless and fat: broiled | | | | The currency stores are modern and the bigger |
| chicken or pig, rice, black beans, potatoes, canned | | | | ones have guards who let the customers in and |
| vegetables and cabbage. A traveler sometimes | | | | out after the cash receipt and the purchase has |
| gets desperate, especially a vegetarian - the | | | | been checked. The special items, like seasoning |
| vegetable dishes are simply created by taking | | | | cubes, are sold one by one at the desk. In |
| away the pieces of meat. | | | | currency stores fresh food are scarcely seen, |
| A traveler has to consider every day what to eat | | | | sometimes maybe cheese and yoghurt, but the |
| and where. You cannot digest heavy dishes many | | | | freezers are full of chicken legs - thanks to the |
| times a day. There are not many options, | | | | lightening of the trade blockade by the US. The |
| especially for the budget traveler, because the | | | | export prohibition of agricultural products was |
| food price is the same as in Europe if you do not | | | | removed in 2001. |
| use exclusively the peso-restaurants. | | | | All food is canned, vegetables, meat, fish. It is |
| You find the best service and food in private | | | | hard to understand why in this country of eternal |
| paladars - private people are not allowed to use | | | | summer, surrounded by the sea, you cannot get |
| the name "restaurant", which is the privilege of | | | | fresh fish or vegetables and fruit. The town |
| the state owned eating places. The state wants | | | | residents are lucky if they see a farmer selling his |
| to ensure "equality among the citizens" and has | | | | produce on a wheelbarrow, calling out "tomatoes, |
| ordered that in a paladar there may be no more | | | | pineapple" and you must hurry if you are going to |
| than 12 seats for customers, and in additions it is | | | | get something - with pesos in your pocket and a |
| forbidden to prepare beef and other special dishes | | | | bag for the purchase. |
| like fresh seafood. | | | | Our friend Yuri wanted to hear our opinion on his |
| The casas particulares (family accommodation) | | | | country and when he asked if we liked Cuban |
| often serve meals in addition to breakfast. The | | | | food, we went speechless. I looked for a polite |
| hosts always remember to ask the customers | | | | and true answer. "I see it on your face" Yuri |
| about dinner wishes. You can also order one | | | | laughed looking embarrassed, but his eyes |
| portion for two, one portion of meat is enough | | | | brightened when I told him that we had never got |
| for both - it is also a bit cheaper. According to the | | | | so many new friends and good company as in |
| chef's inventive powers and skill, the portions may | | | | Cuba. And the food is crowned by velvet soft |
| turn out to be surprisingly tasteful. | | | | strong coffee, mojitos, rum and the smell of cigar |
| The favorite of many budget travelers is the fast | | | | and the rhythms that carry you away. |