English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Madrid, February 29, 2024 — “In Cuba there is enough flour to drown in, but the State doesn’t have any.” Everyone knows it, and María confirms it. She spends the morning sending messages to several contacts – found through social networks – to buy the raw material, with which she makes bread, pizzas, cakes … Continue reading “Cuba Has No Bread, but ‘You Can Drown in All the Flour’”
14ymedio, Havana, 23 February 2023 — The alternative that the Meat Company of Cienfuegos found to stay active is the production of sausages based on cassava, rice and cornstarch, due to the shortage of wheat and the low production of beef and pork on the Island. “We have had good results,” Luis Jiménez Marrero, an … Continue reading “Cassava Flour Ham and Soy Milk, the ‘Alternative’ Diet of Cubans”
14ymedio, Havana, 9 February 2023 — The Ceiba Citrus Company, located in Caimito, Artemisa, has bet all its cards on the construction of a new cassava flour factory. However, despite the investment required by the plant, its managers cannot guarantee that the harvest of the tuber on the Island will live up to their expectations. … Continue reading “In the Absence of Wheat, Artemisa Will Have a Cassava Flour Factory”
14ymedio, Havana, 13 January 2023 — Bread bakers in Sancti Spiritus must plan for blackouts and, though wood-fired ovens would solve their problems, they do not see this as a realistic option and are more inclined towards solar panels. This was made clear by an article in the state-run newspaper Escambray about the poor quality of … Continue reading “Cuban Bakers’ Challenge: Making Bread from Low-Quality Yeast and Flour”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 October 2022 — Bread didn’t reach the tables of Cuban families in several municipalities in the provinces of Guantánamo and Holguín last week. The lack of flour and fuel prevented companies from accomplishing the production needed to guarantee supplies. In Guantánamo, the director of the Food Industry, Albis Hernández Díaz, recognized that … Continue reading “Bread Making is Slowed Down by a Shortage of Flour and Fuel”
14ymedio, Havana, 31 August 2022 — The shortage of wheat flour in Cuba, with the consequent increase in the price of bread and cookies on the market, has quickly reached its critical point. In addition to the difficulties in making the products, there is the absence of an effective mechanism for the import of the … Continue reading “Instead of Facilitating the Import of Flour, the Cuban Government Lashes Out Against the ‘Resellers’”
14ymedio, Havana, 26 August 2021 — After a year of flour shortage in Cuba, the Government announced this Thursday the launch of a project on the Isle of Youth to obtain breadfruit flour. The objective is to obtain this raw material to have greater availability or, directly to replace the wheat flour used in the … Continue reading “Breadfruit Tree Proposed to Relieve Shortage of Flour in Cuba”
EFE / 14ymedio, Havana, 23 April 2021 — On Thursday, Cuba received a donation of food sent by Russia through the representation of the World Food Program (WFP) on the island, at a time of serious problems with supplies on the island. The donation, which includes 253 tons of oil and 430 tons of wheat … Continue reading “Russia Sends Cuba 253 Tons of Oil and 430 of Tons of Wheat Flour”
Iván García, 9 May 2019 — Around the mid-1990s, the cohort of official reporters taking the leap into unrestricted journalism in Cuba had — besides experience and media training — the privilege of typewriters at their disposal. Those just starting out in the world’s best occupation were hand-writing their articles in school notebooks. Newbies would … Continue reading “Independent Journalism In Cuba: Flourishing But Underfunded / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 4 January 2019 — The old recipes from the Special Period are back in fashion. The lack of flour has led state-owned bakeries to turn to yams, private confectioners opt for recipes with yucca, and more than one family invents some substitute in order to have breakfast. The shortage of flour has … Continue reading “Substituting Yam, Yucca, and Cuban Ingenuity for Flour”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, December 11, 2018 — The breakdown of mills and the lack of cash flow that Cuba is experiencing have combined to exacerbate the shortage of flour, as was confirmed this Monday by the Minister of the Food Industry, Iris Quiñones Rojas. The small amount of the product that remains on the … Continue reading “Cuba Only Has Enough Flour for the Rationed Bread”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, November 18, 2018 — First eggs went missing, then it was sugar’s turn, and now it’s wheat flour that has been added to the list of products that are lacking in Cuban markets. The valuable ingredient is the basis of many recipes that are sold in private businesses, like sweets, breads, … Continue reading “Flour Shortage Affects Thousands of Private Businesses in Cuba”
14ymedio, Orlando Palma, Havana, 9 February 2014 – “The flour trail is easy to follow,” says a retired baker whose hands, for more than five years now, haven’t mixed ingredients nor added leavening to a dough. “I left it all behind, because the administrator of the bakery where I worked changed every six months and … Continue reading “Follow the Trail of Flour / 14ymedio, Orlando Palma”
You already see hundreds of stalls selling CDs and videos. Good-natured, calm señoras who offer a wide range of religious articles and, in any Havana doorway, from one day to the next, a snack bar with fast food emerges. When in October 2010 they authorized the expansion of self-employment, people took their time. There were … Continue reading “Private Businesses and Suspicions Flourish in Cuba / Iván García”
