The weekend is the time to get cheap food in Santiago de Cuba. Food is usually very expensive, to the point that getting it has become difficult for many people. That’s why the Feria on Avenida de Sueño, during the weekend, is crucial for spending little and buying well.
My friend Ale is in Cuba. Her name is Alessandra, she comes from Italy. It’s her first time reaching Santiago (most tourists stay in places like Havana, Trinidad, or Varadero). Since I needed to do my shopping, I said to her: “Tell me, Ale, are you interested in a non-touristy Cuban experience?” “Of course!” And that’s how an Italian tourist ended up in the tumult and chaos of the Feria.
“This is quite unhygienic, isn’t it?” were her first words, as soon as she focused her gaze on the rest of the Avenue. And look, yes, she’s partly right. The meat is the worst, as they display it without any refrigeration. “By noon that meat is going to stink", she said. I laughed. “By 10am there won’t be any meat left,” I replied.
Ale was amazed by the food being bought directly from the trucks, without going through a stall or cart. She was amazed by the long lines of people to buy it. By the barrels of bulk tomato sauce and the number of people buying it without knowing the quality or hygiene of the manufacturing process. I told her they put anything but tomatoes in it and that sometimes the paste turns a very strange bright pink. “Sacrilege!” she exclaimed. By the pepper, cumin, and other spices in small obviously homemade packets and the absolute lack of labels, ingredient lists, or expiration dates.
We arrived at 8 and by 9:30 I had enough food for the week and an Italian tremendously worried about what she was eating in the restaurants here. “Well, honestly we don’t notice those things,” I explained to her. “I don’t remember ever getting sick from anything I’ve eaten, and I’ve eaten things and in places that would scare you. Maybe you are so hygienic that you don’t have defenses to fight those things.”
“It’s that you Cubans could survive a nuclear bomb,” she replied.
I think she’s absolutely right.
Final purchase:
Corn, 5 ears: 75 pesos
Sweet potato, 2 pounds: 70 pesos
Bell pepper, half a pound: 50 pesos
Avocado: 100 pesos
Black pepper, 3 small packets: 30 pesos
Garlic, 2 small packets: 10 pesos
Cilantro: 10 pesos
Total: 345 pesos.
I never buy meat at the weekend market, and I still had other necessary items from last week. Outside the weekend market, all this would have cost me 600 pesos. So I saved 255 pesos!