Out in the fields and into the kitchen

Last week saw the rotation continue. I was lucky enough to coincide with a 3 day course given by the organopónico trying to teach 20 Mexican agriculturalists the merits of going organic (many left convinced of both the need and the possibilities, if unconvinced Mexico that was ready for it) and I also spent some time with ornamental plants team, discovering amongst other things the joys of the ins and outs of the plants-as-a-luxury part of the business. Hopefully I’ll be able to explain some more about both in time, but right now though to the two most memorable days.

Firstly, to the men’s work - at least it is men’s work here: working in the fields. On Friday morning we spent 4 hours pulling up peanuts in 30-35 degree heat. It was hard work but I loved it. That might have been in part because of the company: I was joined by 2 Mexican lads who were here for the course and had stayed on in Cuba and fancied getting their hands dirty. This livened things up but it was also very satisfying work: peanuts grow from the root of the plant and can be pulled up quite easily out of the damp red earth before being laid out in the sun to dry out. After a few days drying out they’ll be sent to the agro-production area for roasting and shelling. It being an organic plantation we also found all sorts of wildlife, including thousands of woodlice skulking amidst the humidity and darkness of the peanut roots. Being stung continuously by ants wasn’t so pleasant (there are small red ants here that secrete a painful solution when they walk you’re your skin which hurts for about 20 mins before going away), but if I was in any pain I wasn’t going to let on – I felt like I needed to prove that girls can do some hunting and gathering too.

Up till now it’s been no use explaining that despite being no super woman I have spent a fair amount of my (short) working life doing physical work – mostly shovelling shit on various different farms in the UK and abroad. “In Cuba it’s different though”, they say: “we look after our women”. By this they don’t really mean we don’t in the UK – indeed many people have no way of knowing the actual state of sexual equality or inequality in many other countries - instead, I think it has more to do with the immense heat and the nature of manual labour here. With very little heavy machinery or mechanical aid of any sort it really is a case of elbow grease and sweat, and many women either cannot or do not want to do it. Up to this point I’d been limited to the female tasks or to watching the men work, and had been reprimanded three times for carrying too heavy a load, because  “even if it I can manage now my arms will ache in the morning”.

Despite being fairly stubborn and taking enjoyment out of such physical work, I have to conclude that this attitude toward the division of labour isn’t a wholly bad thing. I have no first had experience of the situation in other ‘developing’ countries but we know that women are often relied upon greatly to do a vast range of manual chores that cannot be belittled. In Africa for example between 70 and 90 per cent of the work of transporting crops is done by women and children, who also do almost all of the carrying of water and firewood. Cuban women, by developing world standards, are highly liberated; they have access to the training and education they desire as well as the access to a wealth of jobs; such that now Cuban women make up 66% of the workforce. But as well as not making it to the fields they don’t reach hard politics either. Meanwhile they remain completely indispensible in the home, where life is reminiscent of the experience of many women worldwide juggling a career and a family.

This glimpse of the hard hard work (preparing the land, working the oxen, planting out, weeding, harvesting etc) was very brief, for the next day I was out of the sun and into the kitchen: where breakfast, lunch and visitor’s meals all come together. Fortunately I’d picked a good day to join the team: 2 groups of North Americans were arriving for a tour, making 65 in total. Add those to the 100 odd workers that need to be fed as well and you’ve got a mini operation. Again, just like wanting to work out the fields the team thought I was pretty crazy, but I was delighted to be able to help.

I’ve seen a few tours come and go here – in any one week there can be anywhere between 3 and 7 visits, many from North American’s coming to Cuba on an organised visit, some also coming as a bunch from further afield, and some individuals who’ve contacted Salcines independently. They have one thing in common though – they all say the meal they eat at the organopónico is the best they’ve had during their stay in the country. This has a large amount to do with the ingredients which, bar the rice and meat, are pretty much 100% organic and have travelled at most over 6 hectares to the kitchen. For $10CUC, most enjoy a buffet of the following:

Pork steaks / fish fillets (shallow fried in soya oil, which is how most meat comes)

Green bean salad (cooked  French beans are eaten a lot here)

Beetroot (by itself)

Avocado (we’re just coming into the season, hence it being on the menu. Eating here continues to be almost 100% seasonal)

Tomato, cucumber and lettuce salad (all from the organopónico)

Black beans (either served by themselves or with rice to make the traditional dish Congri)

Cassava (cooked until tender and then finished off with a tasty garlicky sauce)

Fried plantain (self-explanatory)

Vegetable soup (with squash, sweet potato, carrots, onions etc, and despite often being prepared for vegetarian groups, it is always made with a meat stock. Needless to say vegetarianism in Cuba isn’t yet much understood or possible to accomplish!)

Yellow, white or black and white rice (the yellow variety is cooked with vegetables and I suspect a lot of meat stock and fat, the white plain and the black and white is the congri)

A variety of fruit to be eaten with the savoury main meal, including mango, papaya, guava, pineapple

Mango juice (freshly pressed mango, sometimes with extra sugar for good measure)

It really is a feast, and I’m still not quite sure how they pull it off – both with the difficulty in finding those things they can’t grow here and the simplicity of the kitchen. For example, although the organopónico does rear cattle it can only do so from their manure since they’re on loan from the government who takes them back after a certain number of months to slaughter. (Incidentally, not only is it illegal to slaughter cattle but it carries a sentence 6 times lengthier than that of killing a fellow human being. Crazy.)

Indispensible to the operation though are the people. There is one male chef who deals with the ginormous pots of soup and beans, and behind him a team of not two but five fat and cheery (but somewhat formidable) ladies who charge themselves with the meat cooking, preparation and waiter service. The washing up duty is shared evenly and the female workers wash up on a rota the lunch plates.

Despite the challenge the feeding of the 66 everything was accomplished surprisingly smoothly. I played a small part as lettuce washer, potato peeler and mango chopper, as well as having some fun as bilingual waiter and washer-upper. Having experienced the kitchen on one of its busiest days I’d have to conclude it was just as hard work as working in the fields, except you get far more compensated for your work – in my case with lots of mango off-cuts! This may explain the correlation of skinny male farm workers and rather plump female cooks. I had fun but given the chance I’d be outside and back into the field like a shot!