“Shrimp croquettes at 57 pesos a pound!” Customers queuing at the doors of the San Lázaro state fishmonger, in Centro Habana, could hardly believe the product they had “taken out” this Wednesday.
Given that the crustacean has been a luxury on Cuban tables for decades and its production – tightly controlled by the State – is mainly destined for export, the offer immediately aroused suspicion.
“This is enchanted shrimp, because who knows what it is,” said a man sarcastically as he left the establishment with his pound of croquettes. Another woman preferred to pass by: “At 57 pesos? If that’s a broth that they add to the flour, let them respect each other a little!”
Grayish-brown in color, it most closely resembles the playdough used by preschoolers, partly because of the cornstarch they seem to contain.
Reason was not lacking, as testified by those who have had the misfortune to try them. “They are pure flour, they absorb oil like sponges and from time to time you have to take things out of your mouth that don’t seem to belong to a shrimp,” says a resident of Centro Habana. “It seems that they are made of water in which some shrimp heads were boiled and maybe they added a little claria to complete it.”
A relative gave the woman the croquettes and at first she was excited, but the joy lasted as soon as she took a bite: “I ended up giving them to the cats, but they didn’t even eat them.”
Nor do you need to put them in your mouth to verify that they are not even animal food. Grayish-brown in color, it most closely resembles the playdough used by preschoolers, partly because of the cornstarch they seem to contain.
However, there were not a few who did buy the croquettes, especially older people. “Aren’t you going to take them?” the clerk insisted before a young man who declined with a disgusted face: “No, thanks.”
Around the corner, another refusal presented itself in the form of a movie scene. From a balcony, an old woman reached out her arm and threw the entire contents of a nylon crate into the street. On the asphalt was what she had categorically and angrily rejected: a dozen shrimp croquettes.
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