Feature: Fidel Castro's culinary passion

by Marjorie Ross, United Press International

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

HAVANA, Cuba (UPI): From the days of his youth, Cuban President Fidel Castro has been a lover of cooking.

He was a prisoner in the Isla de Pinos during his revolutionary youth, where he passed his days reading Marx and Lenin. He also taught classes -- and he cooked. His interest in food -- far from disappearing with the power and the passing of years -- seems to have turned into an obsession.

Fidel Castro has been repeatedly accused of maintaining that the traditional Cuban cuisine -- tamales, tayuyos, majaretes, rice with black frijoles, yucca with gravy, fried banana and suckling pig, among others – are conservative tastes. For that reason, his opponents charge that he replaced the culinary traditions of his country with terrible Castro-style pizzerias, which he "sowed" years ago in many parts of the Cuban capital.

His bad Italianization of the Cuban table has also launched the dish called "sustenance," which is a type of simple pasta dish, known locally as "little elbows," that serves to stave off hunger in times of shortage.

The Cuban leader's passion for pasta has lasted all his life. When the late writer Carlos Franqui, his comrade and later dissident, was asked about accusations that Castro had turned Cuba into a gigantic pizzeria, he replied that the country was "Fidel's spaghetti house."

In one interview, Franqui told me of Castro's culinary interests by noting: "He is a man who cannot be still. He moves, he never stops; if he speaks, he speaks standing up. Only when he sleeps or eats, he rests -- and food is his great love, as it relaxes him."

Perhaps for that reason Fidel has encouraged the manufacture of ice cream and yogurt and the farming of young of crocodiles to supply the tourist restaurants. Castro favors rice fields near Havana, cattle imported from Canada, factories manufacturing expensive French cheeses, experimental pate de foie gras and many other food-related chimeras.

In his youth, Castro was a fan of the good table and a man of great imagination. His handwritten letters from prison tell us that his interest in cuisine strengthened during his incarceration -- days that could have been full of dreary frugality. However, with the generosity of his friends and creativity, his resources occasionally turned into delicious banquets for one. In his letters he wrote: "As I am a cook, once in a while I entertain myself preparing some dish. Recently my brother sent me a small ham from the east, and I prepared ham steak with guava jelly. But that is nothing; today the boys sent me a jar with pineapple slices in syrup. I tell you that I attract things with my mind! And tomorrow I will eat ham with pineapple.

Also, from time to time, I prepare different types of spaghetti, all invented by me, or cheese tortillas. Ah, how well they come out! Of course the repertoire does not end there."

On another occasion, he wrote: "I am hungry and I stuffed a few calamari to boil. ... I am going to have supper: spaghetti with calamari, Italian chocolates for dessert, and coffee, freshly brewed. ... They take care of me, take care of me a little bit between them. ... Nobody pays any attention to what I say, I am always fighting for them not to send me anything. ... When I feel the sun in the morning and I feel the sea air, it seems to me that I am in a beach and soon I'll go to a small restaurant here. They are going to make me think that I am on vacation! What would Marx say of such a revolutionary?"

Perhaps Lenin was correct when he once observed, "Any cook should be able to run the country."

Fidel's Cuban cheese tortilla (two portions):

4 eggs
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 sweet chili (pimiento) green, chopped
1 medium tomato peeled, seeded and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup grated white cheese (cheddar can be used)
2 tablespoons of butter

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste Beat the eggs in a bowl. In a frying pan, fry the onion, chili, garlic and tomato in hot oil for about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper, and remove from the frying pan. Reserve. In an omelette frying pan or a small non-stick frying pan, melt half the butter on medium heat, making sure it does not burn. When it is hot, pour in half of the beaten eggs. Move the frying pan, so that it is coated and cook the eggs about 1 minute. With a spatula, transfer the tortilla to a serving plate. Sprinkle half of the cheese, and put in the center two spoonfuls of the sautéed mixture. Fold the omelet in half. Repeat the procedure with remaining eggs, adorn each tortilla with a little filling, and serve very hot.

Marjorie Ross is a writer with Tiempos del Mundo

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