The Food

Everything we read, everyone we talked to, said that the food was bland, or worse.  We found the food to be very good, both on the resort and off. It is not cheap off the resort - expect to pay what you would in Canada.  Drinks are cheap, both alcoholic and non.

What Cubans do well:

• pork (stewed, pulled, roasted whole, made into sausage, etc)
• chicken (roasted or grilled)
• bread
• cheese (they don't put it on anything, just eat it by itself)
• rice (dirty rice, yellow rice, mixta rice)
• beans
• desserts (creme caramel, cake with fancy meringue icing, ice cream)
• fish

What Cuban's don't do well:

•  bacon - they don't separate the slices to cook it and roast it in big blocks, so you have to pick through for the cooked pieces.
•  hamburgs & pizza

The food is kind of bland.  There is very little in the way of sauces or seasonings, and nothing is over-salted.  Keep in mind we need those sauces & seasonings in North America because our food is tasteless.  Cuban meat and produce is not.

There is no mention of  "organic" or "free-range", but that's the impression I get.  Farms are not huge conglomerates; they have small plots with a variety of plants.

Cows are pastured, either in a fenced field or tethered.  We had to stop on our way to Havana while some of them crossed the road. There is a 30 peso fine for hitting a cow and you can end up in jail if you kill one. Our guide told us that the cows are to produce milk for the children until they are 7.  I am not sure if the cow retires at 7 or the kid graduates to rum.

Chickens strut around like they own the place.  We heard them crowing in the mornings.

These were across the street from the hotel in front of a tour office.

This one was running loose in the restaurant where we ate in Havana.