In my case, I am always prepared to stand in line, because there is what there is, but it is not enough for everyone.
I always have to reinforce, with a soda with sugar water
Elena, a professional in the pharmaceutical industry, a 60-year-old woman, living in Havana
Can you describe your state of health?
I consider myself a healthy person, I do not drink alcohol or smoke, but I am type 1 diabetic, that is, dependent on insulin three times a day, and of course, at my age, with diabetes and other ailments (hypertension and glaucoma), there are other things to consider.
How long have you been presenting this status?
I have been diabetic since I was 10 years old, so since I was little I had to learn to live with this condition, to inject myself, to watch what I ate and not eat.But in recent years I have become more decompensated, as a result of age and other changes in my environment, which is why I suffer from frequent low blood sugar levels that are indeed dangerous because I lose consciousness.It's also been about five years since I started with hypertension and glaucoma, although I also have treatment for that and it doesn't pose any major risks..
Has your condition been enhanced or aggravated by eating conditions?
I don't think it was enhanced by my previous diet, but it is linked to it. Let me explain, I need a specific amount of carbohydrates at the last meal, otherwise my blood sugar drops in the middle of the night and I go from sleep to convulsions, so my family has to intercede and give me sugar water, in that I am extremely dependent, I couldn't stay alone.
Some time ago rice was lost, and when the pound appeared it was at exorbitant prices. So I, who am the one who cooks at home, had to vary my diet. The only substitute for rice that was found was spaghetti, because there was no potato.The spaghetti fills up for the moment but does not last long in the stomach. I learned that then, because they gave me hypoglycemia every day, I had to take vacations because I couldn't have these crises and at 6 in the morning I got up to go to work.
Since then I have to reinforce with something, if the food is weak before going to bed I drink a glass of juice, soda, a spoonful of sugar, whatever appears.
Do you need any specific food due to your condition?
Well, in addition to the restrictions, that I can't be eating a lot of sweets or starchy foods, like cassava, I need a balanced diet, eat small spaced snacks.Also avoid stress, stress is something that immediately decompensates me, it can both raise and lower my sugar levels to the limit, all in the same day.
What regulated foods (from the notebook) do you receive to cover the needs of your condition?
None, until a few months ago received 1 kg of powdered milk per month from the supply booklet, but they removed it without prior notice and with no hope of return. That was something that also made me unbalanced because I had breakfast and a snack, when I got home from work, my glass of milk, and that's over because I have no other way to get it, I can't pay the 1,000 and 1,200 pesos that a bag costs in the market black.
Do you consider that you have access to what is necessary to cover a balanced diet according to the needs of your condition? Failing that, what products do you consider essential for your diet and are difficult for you to acquire?
As I was saying before, milk was important in my routine. Now I must replace it with very sweet drinks that are precisely the condemnation of the diabetic because in Cuba there are no sweeteners. In order for a diabetic to regulate his glycemia, that is, the concentration of his blood glucose, he must regulate the consumption of carbohydrates that he consumes at each meal, do as a count, and eat meals at the same time each day.Both things are impossible in Cuba. First because you have to eat the carbohydrates that appear and as they appear, second because you depend on transportation. If the bus takes an hour longer than expected and I'm at lunchtime, I have a crisis right there, that's why I keep a little pomegranate with sugar in my bag, wherever I go.
Do you have anxiety or concern about the food supply in your home?
I was very upset when they removed the milk from the notebook, because they didn't even replace it with a milkshake or something that can be consumed. That was important in my diet, and in that of my family because I stretched it and baptized it, and guaranteed a glass of milk for my brother and my niece.
I do consider that I suffer from anxiety when thinking about food at home. Every week I worry about what I will get for the next 7 days because at home we all work from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm and we don't have
tomato, mayonnaise, snack paste. They make you believe that you have a choice, but you don't. In the end you sacrifice yourself to minimize yourself with what there is and not with and not with what you want, that's where half of my expenses go because you buy minced beef, some cans of pressed meat, all of that with prices that are extremely expensive, I say they are punishing prices. Finally, I do not receive work incentives because I am, as I told you, a self-employed worker.
The black market before COVID-19 was the main way to acquire everything, now it is avoided to the point of hunger and need because it is extremely expensive
Due to the shortage during COVID, there are some stores that were formerly establishments in CUC, which today have become in national currency (MN), there the State assigns you some essential products that could be used if they were not restricted, I'm talking about chicken, sausages and normado mincemeat. They give it in a very controlled way using the supply book and in insufficient quantities. Now you can visit those stores to purchase them once a month. They started weekly, they continued fortnightly and now it is once a month, the sacrifice to access the products due to the queues is sub-real, but with the purchases in those stores the majority subsists, in my case it is 15% of my expenses .
How many hours do you spend searching for and buying these foods?
The search and purchase of food is the main task of any Cuban, from those who have the least to those who have the most. In my case, I am always prepared to stand in line, because there is what there is, but it is not enough for everyone. Almost every day I do something related to the search for food, I am not always successful, when I go to the stores in national currency it is almost all day, just like those in freely convertible currency (MLC). In the agro-markets you invest less time, but you still spend a couple of hours in them.
Do you use social networks to find out about supplies and prices in your area, for example, via Facebook or Telegram or WhatsApp groups?
No, I do not use networks for this purpose.
If you had to divide your diet, how would you describe your intake of animal protein, vegetable protein, carbohydrates? For example, how many times a week do you eat fish, red meat, white meat, dairy products, eggs, vegetables?
Almost always chicken from regulated stores, you stretch it and it's like a rubber band, you eat it almost every day. I eat so little fish that I can almost say never. Red meat almost the same, last month I bought two tubes of ground beef, very good quality, in MLC, very expensive, two meals for three people per tube. That is the beef I have eaten in the last two or three months. I have access to eggs because 10 per person come to the cellar monthly. About milk, milk is not sold here, only medical diets, which have already been removed until further notice, and pregnant women and children under seven years of age have a milk allowance. I drink milk when I can buy it outside and it is very, very expensive. The vegetables, you find them in the particular agritos [small private agro-market stalls] and they are priceless. Onion, garlic and tomato are only available to big pockets. Perhaps what I buy the most is cucumber, avocado… there are no other types of vegetables.
Do you consider that your family has enough intake of healthy food for its normal development?
No, not at all, we are eating what we can, when we can, carbohydrates and sugar are what keep us going.
Do you consider that in your family there are diseases related to the lack of nutrients or an unhealthy diet?
We are a very strong race, even bread with rubble nourishes us, so if we are sick with a shortage of nutrients, which is almost total, we don't even notice it.
Do you consider that, when shopping, you must decide between one basic food or another? Do you think you are buying food at a fair price?
The problem is not that you decide between one and the other, the problem is that you buy the one that exists. I have never been in that dilemma because there is no variety. It depends on what is meant by justice, I would say that food is far above purchasing power, that could be said to be unfair
Have your food preferences changed in the last two years? How?
I love to eat, it's the greatest of pleasures from my point of view, a pork escalope, a kidney, roast pork and chicken in sauce with potatoes, tuna, a good steak, mixed salads, that I must not have forgotten to make… the ice cream, the malt soda, the sweets. But I am a man who has adapted since I was a child, I remember when I was on scholarship that I made a drink with water and some candies inside the container. Now I am not telling you not to drink an imported beer, a Kermato [non-alcoholic drink based on tomato juice, clams and spices], a carbonated soft drink, not to eat a delicious barbecue one day, but it is sacrificed [he pronounces it high and lengthening the syllables]. I love sugar water, which sucks, but it helps to stave off hunger sometimes. Sometimes I eat chicken mince, which I don't like, sometimes I eat a little more bread, which isn't bad for sustaining, which I don't like, but I have no other choice.
What commodities do you find only or most often through the black market?
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