Contradicting the gastronomic maxim according to which if the product is good, the cook needs little to show off, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba blames the bakers for the poor quality of the bread in an article published this sunday titled To the bread, bread… and to the quality, what?
This March, the newspaper September 5 complained from its pages about the increasingly worse bread in the basket, made with wheat flour with “weak quality characteristics”. But Granma bets rather on the lack of another ingredient: love.
“It’s true that when the flour is bad, you have to be a magician so that the bread turns out well, but you can put a little love into it so that it doesn’t turn out so bad,” says one of the clients, a former baker, to whom he gives voice the official newspaper.
A reporter stationed himself at the door of the La Especial bakery, located in Ciego de Ávila, to ask shoppers their opinion every day why the bread is bad. According to this sui generis survey, of 250 people asked, 72% answered that the fault lies with the bakers, while 28% attributed it to the poor quality of the products –from flour to oil–, theft and electricity cuts, all in the same bag. None of those consulted said it was okay.
Of 250 people asked, 72% answered that the fault lies with the bakers, while 28% attributed it to the poor quality of the products –from flour to oil–, theft and electricity cuts
However, in other stores they found different versions. Some customers spoke of bakeries in which the product is acceptable and others in which it is usual that “they do not even bite”. “Most of our workers are very valuable, but I do not deny that there may be some that tarnish that image,” says Yoslainay Hernández Collado, technical and development director at the Provincial Food Company in Ciego de Ávila.
The official even maintains that it is useless to buy the best raw material if there are workers who do not comply, although she assures that there are sanctioning measures planned for those who do not make bread as it should be, including “separation” from the job. Milady Santana Espinosa, legal adviser to the company, says that this year there were ten disciplinary measures in the province.
Eduardo Hernández Soriano, administrator of La Ideal, one of the best valued, admits that there are problems in the raw material or working conditions, but that it is necessary to “revolutionize the soul of the baker.” “If there is love and wisdom in the manufacturing process, with what we have, the bread can come out good, with acceptable quality”.
Granma He also mentions the problems of the facilities, such as in La Moderna, where the oven and grills are in poor condition, there is a lack of lighting or the flour is bad. According to the newspaper, “the flour from national suppliers, it is known, is not the best quality when compared to the imported one.”
The technical equipment, as usual, is old, there are no suitable spare parts and the stoves are mostly damaged, which makes it difficult for the bread to rise properly.
The technical equipment, as usual, is old, adequate spare parts are not available and the stoves are mostly damaged, which makes it difficult for the bread to rise properly.
In addition, self-employed bakeries are also accused of feeding off stolen raw materials. “You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to know where part of the oil or flour that is sold in contraband comes from, and that supports many productions on its own,” says the text, which closes with the words of a baker, the criterion ” more successful”: “With what we have, we can achieve an improved bread, making it technologically what it takes and putting love, a lot of love into the job, so that the bread can be eaten with pleasure”.
For now, Cubans are guaranteed 80 grams of bread per day by the basket, but if in the current conditions the complaints go through not only Ciego de Ávila or Cienfuegosbut all the provinces of the Island without exception, the worst is yet to come: the global cereal crisis that is looming as a result of the war in Ukraine.
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