Eating Fish in Cuba

Eating Fish in Cuba
December 9, 2014
Jorge Milanés

HAVANA TIMES — "I guess you don't have a hard time finding fish, since
you live in Cojimar," a friend at work who lives in the neighborhood of
Cerro says to me. Yes, that is what everyone assumes.

One would assume that fish would be the main source of food in Cuba,
geographically surrounded by water as it is. But that's not the case.

If we focus on the local situation, the town of Cojimar illustrates the
above. It is located next to the shore and traversed by a river of the
same name. It is also known as a place where fishermen live.

During his stay in Cuba, the renowned American novelist Ernest Hemignway
gave the locality a reputation as a community of fishermen, but the
truth is that fishing has never been a source of income for any of the
families of the fishermen who live there. Very few people live in the
town and, as such, it is a depressed market without any clear economic
advantages.

Today, that situation has changed. The population of the town has grown
and, until a few years ago, one could illegally get one's hands on the
occasional fish at the pier or some town streets, when the fishermen
returned home with their nets. New commercial conditions have taken hold
of the market, however, and all fish is sold in private restaurants.

Some people fish exclusively for food, others have motor boats and can
bring back some "catches" they can sell, holding a fishing license, but
the majority of the fish caught is sold to the town's new restaurants.
One may ask: "why don't you buy the fish at the State fish-store?" But
that would be tantamount to mocking oneself.

I won't be able to celebrate the New Year's as I did in previous
occasions and has become customary at home, not unless I pay fifty Cuban
pesos (US $ 2.50) for every pound of fish or go out with a fishing rod
(which I don't have), or go to a restaurant, where they would charge me
twice as much, and could even serve me with chicken instead of fish, as
the saying goes.

Source: Eating Fish in Cuba - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=107816