Skip to main content

Cuban cuisine in the heart of Paris


Cuban Cafe is a Cuban restaurant in the Montparnasse 6th arrondisment of Paris, close to the famous traditional French restaurants, La Coupole, Le Dome, La Rotonde, and Le Select.


Dimly lit, it is decorated with paraphernalia from Cuba—flags, banners, ornaments, and posters. The bar and restaurant on rue Vavin offers lunch, dinner, and cocktails, such as the Cuba Libre cocktail created in 1920 for Ernest Hemingway. The restaurant offers Cuban and Spanish cuisine such as tapas (frias and caliente—cold and hot), picadillo a la habanera (minced Havana), salads, and meat and fish plates. Accompanying the meals are tachinos, chatinos or tostones (fried green bananas), black beans, and congress (rice and bean mixture). It’s authentic and hearty in a no-frills style amid a warm and welcoming atmosphere.


 Consumerism and entrepreneurship are novel experiences in the country of Cuba. Its four million government workers earn an average salary of $20 a month, and retirees receive about $10 a month. While many receive food rations and health care, most Cubans live humbly. Many continue to live on remittances—for example, remittances from Cuban Americans accounted for $5 billion in 2012 (three times the amount the Cuban government pays in government salaries). For 54 years under Fidel Castro’s communist rule, time virtually stood still. However, as his brother Raul Castro opened the economy to limited non-state (private) businesses and farming, the number of Cubans taking advantage of the new policy has steadily increased.
In 2009 about 600,000 Cubans worked in the private sector (which includes farming). In 2013 about a million Cubans (9% of the population) now work in the private sector (figures from the National Statistics Office). These new entrepreneurs make up the consumer class in Cuba.


Soon after taking office in 2008, after Fidel Castro stepped down in 2006 due to ailing health, President Raul Castro opened the way for more consumption, allowing Cubans to establish businesses, stay in hotels, and buy mobile phones and laptop computers. Nearly 1.5 million Cubans stayed in hotels or spent money on tourism in 2012, an increase of 200,000 from the previous year. Privately owned restaurants now cater for the same number of Cuban clients as tourists.
Tourists are mainly Canadians and Europeans, although in 2011 about 400,000 Americans flew to Cuba. In 2012 a record 2.8 million visitors descended upon Cuba, increasing tourism revenue to $2.5 billion (but still less than overseas remittances).
However, the increase in businesses has occurred predominantly in the retail sector—bars, restaurants, and food kiosks—with almost no new manufacturing and production.
Health care has always been a positive aspect in Cuba, continuing to export doctors overseas. However, health is becoming more of a concern with medical facilities more in demand as the population ages. The National Statistics Office predicts that by 2025 Cuba will have the oldest population in Latin America or the Caribbean. Universities will have 30% fewer students, and a quarter (25%) of Cuba’s citizens will be over the age of 60 by 2025. Government officials are aging too. President Raul is now 82 and his brother Fidel is 87.






http://www.cubanacafe.com
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...
1 comment
Read more

Shindi: the Georgian Cornelian cherry

The Cornelian cherry – shindi in Georgian – is a fruit with medicinal and decorative properties. It was grown from ancient times, according to the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS). It is also commonly called the European cornel. It is native to southern Europe from France to Ukraine as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. The Cornelian cherry tree ( Cornus mas ) can be grown in orchards, but it is often seen in the forests of Georgia where it grows up to 1,350 metres above sea level. It is a medium to large deciduous tree, growing from 5-12 metres tall. The flowers are small with four yellow petals in clusters, which flower in February and March. The Cornus mas has three botanical varieties: (1) var. typica Sanadze with cylindrical red fruits, (2) var. pyriformis Sanadze with pear-shaped red fruits, and (3) var. flava vest with yellow fruits. The fruits are oblong red drupes about 2 centimetres ...
Post a Comment
Read more