In Canada, when I go to a grocery store (particularly if it’s part of a large chain) I have limitless options. No matter the season, I have always been able to find everything I need and want. Still, the choices we make can be constrained by our income. In Global North countries, we find that processed foods, frozen foods, and preserved foods are often available at a lower cost than fresh food items.
I have grown accustomed to shelves being full, always. I am accustomed to being able to purchase my favourite fruit, raspberries, in Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall. Thanks to imports from Global South countries, I can enjoy avocado toast, at a cost, on occasion. If there is ever a food that is sold out or a shelf that is empty, the grocery store is already ordering more stock from their suppliers.
International trade, food processing, and food storage facilities have made this plethora of food options possible. Our food system was designed to benefit consumers in the Global North, the wealthiest countries in the international system. The variety, choice and accessibility of foods in our local food networks, show the wide reaching capabilities of our global food system, without showing us the consequences of having all of these choices.
From my privileged experiences, living in Canada, the US, the Netherlands and Germany, generally speaking, food is affordable and accessible to the majority of consumers. Products sold in different grocery stories can vary in prices, depending on whether food is local, organic, seasonal, fresh, frozen, canned, brand name, or generic.
The complexity of our food networks can be seen in our grocery stores filled with local and international products that are accessible to consumers.
Capitalism at home and abroad has prioritized corporate interests and competition that has created a consumer experience with an excessive amount of choice in the Global North.
However, consumers can easily learn which stores have the most affordable selection of food items. While discount and bargain grocery stores can still offer a wide selection of affordable food, they will typically have less variety than the most expensive stores.
Even while traveling in poorer countries in Latin America, the influence of global capitalism and the corporate food regime has installed massive grocery store chains, much like the ones that we are accustomed to in the Global North.
Navigating Cuba as a consumer was a completely different experience.
The Cuban Revolution and the onset of communism led the Cuban government to nationalize private businesses, meaning that stores in Cuba are run by the government.
While recent reforms have allowed for a limited number of private restaurants to open, and private agricultural markets to sell produce, traditional stores are run by the state. Local food networks in Havana were more complex than any I’ve experienced before.
In some of the Panamericana stores (which are state run), shelves are barren. At the closest store in my neighbourhood, I could find three or four types of prepackaged sauces, a few packages of pasta, cans of condensed milk, decaf instant coffee, cooking oil, and shelves fully stocked with rum. All of these products (excluding the rum) were imports from Latin countries. I was surprised to see that the cost of these products was comparable to what I would pay for similar food items back home, given that, while Cuban salaries can vary significantly, the majority of Cubans can’t afford to pay the same prices for food than we can in the Global North.
(It’s important to keep in mind that Cuban state salaries were reportedly $25 USD a month in 2015, according to Cuba’s National Office of Statistics, however, the reality is much more complicated and recent reports have found this figure to be inaccurate. This will be discussed in a later post on the Cuban economy)
What I’ve read about before, and learned more about while in the field, is that Cubans have to visit multiple types of stores, agricultural markets, state rationing sources, and in some cases, black markets to acquire all of the food they need to create a meal.
My breakfasts that have been loaded with fruit, eggs, toast and vegetables have required the women who make them to scavenge across our neighbourhood for ingredients. At this point, I have only recently learned that eggs are an extremely scarce resource here. Varying accounts have reported that people can only acquire 10-16 eggs every month, as this supply is controlled by the state.
It’s important that tourists, visitors and researchers are aware of these issues of scarcity. I regret not knowing the limited availability of eggs before leaving, as I would have brought protein and meal replacement bars to keep myself from taking an important source of protein from the local food network.
The agropecuarios, or agricultural markets, are a different story. The fresh produce offered in many of these markets is generally sold at much more affordable price points. I was able to purchase a variety of seasonal fruits vegetables for a fraction of what I pay back home. However, these markets are not all the same.
I was advised to visit a larger market on the other side of my neighbourhood in order to observe the differences in produce variety and clientele.
As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by english speakers and an abundance of fruits and vegetables that I have never seen before in Cuba. Now, produce cost the equivalent, or more than what I paid back home.
Similar to how grocery shopping works in the Global North, the market with a larger variety of fruits and vegetables had higher price points. The clientele in this market were mainly ex-pats and people who received foreign salaries.
While competition and corporate interests don’t reign over Cuban food networks like they do in the US, state-run food networks provide limited access for consumers. While the supply chain of fresh produce in Cuba is much shorter than it is back home, the food networks as a whole requires an exhausting amount of effort and time from Cuban people to feed themselves and for restaurant and air bnb owners to run their businesses.
Visiting Cuban restaurants, shows critical contradictions in the food network. Many menus of private restaurants have an extensive range of meats, vegetables, and fruits that are included in their dishes. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen Ropa Vieja, a traditional cuban dish made with shredded beef, offered on restaurant menus. When I speak to consumers in Havana and visit sites of food acquisition I learn how impossible it is for average people to acquire beef. However, I’ve learned that restaurant owners have to know the right people, own a car, and have financial capital in order to acquire this delicacy in Cuba. Meanwhile, consumers in many parts of Cuba who don’t have these things simply do not have access to this meat.
In Cuba, as is true in many Global North countries, the more money you have, the more access you have to variety in your diet.
Still, I think I would be doing a disservice to the Cuban food system if I didn’t mention the state libreta. All Cubans have access to a state rationing program with a book that allows Cubans to acquire necessary food staples such as rice, beans, sugar and coffee (I think it’s amazing that coffee is considered a necessity in Cuba) at little to no cost.
Again and again I am told that with regards to food items, Cubans have access to what they need but they don’t always have access to what they want.
Questions that I now face revolve around the ethics of consumer sovereignty, the difficulties of synthesizing consumer sovereignty and food sovereignty, and the role of free will in this discussion.
For example, while beef production and consumption has an extremely negative impact on the climate and ecosystem, it’s important to dissect the ethics of limiting access to beef in a society where it is so culturally significant. There are undeniable difficulties in balancing consumer sovereignty, food sovereignty, and free will, with the Cuban case.
The Cuban Recipe for Food Sovereignty 