The Green Screen

http://www.cubaheadlines.com/2011/04/03/...rning.html

04 / 03 / 2011

One quart could cost 10% of a worker's salary. Cooking oil became more expensive on Saturday, the Agence France-Presse has learned.

A tour by AFP of state-run markets in Havana revealed that the price of one liter (almost one quart) of soy oil rose from US$1.10 to $1.15, a 5% increase. One liter of Cuban-made sunflower-seed oil rose from $2.15 to $2.40 (up 11.6%), and one liter of imported oil went from $2.40 to $2.60 (up 8.3%).

That means that as much as 10 percent of a Cuban worker's average monthly wage – $20 – will go into buying cooking oil.

Using their ration cards, Cubans can buy one quarter-liter (8.5 ounces, or half a pint) of oil per month at subsidized prices. But half a pint is not usually sufficient for one month's cooking in most Cuban homes, where fried foods are a staple of the diet.

No official announcement of the price increase had been issued as of Saturday night.

Source: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_col...ing-oil...

I don't get it. The price of Sunflower Oil has been CUC$2.40 since last year. There is no Soy oil available for CUC$1.10 or $1.15 per liter. Its usually in line with Sunflower Oil... Maybe they meant CUC$2.10-$2.15?.

My family has been using this http://www.piteba.com to process their own sunflower, coconut and other oils. Its not easy with the Sunflower (good workout) but it does produce +/- 1.3 liters per hour so they save CUC$3.12 for about 2 hours of work (allow for the harvest, drying and cleaning of the seeds). And the coconut oil is really easy to make and delicious in cakes and pastries...

Gallofino, is your Cuban family allowed to produce and sell oil?

Any cooking oil is very expensive even here. They are lucky to be able to process some for their needs.

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http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/?p=2414


Oiled Mechanism/Yoani Sanchez

A drop slid down my leg, I maneuvered it into the hollow between my ankle and my shoe and did a thousand pirouettes so my high school classmates wouldn’t notice. For months, my family had had only mineral oil for cooking, thanks to pharmacist relative who was able to sneak it from his work. I remember it heating to a white foam in the pot and the food tinged with the golden color of a photograph, ideal for food magazines. But our bodies could not absorb that kind of fat, made for creating lotions, perfumes or creams. It passed right through our intestines and dripped, dripped, dripped… My panties were stained, but at least we got a break from food that was just boiled, and could try another, slightly roasted.

We were quite fortunate to have that semblance of “butter” that someone stole for us, because in the nineties many others had to distill engine oil for use in their kitchens. Perhaps that’s why we Cubans are traumatized by this product extracted from sunflowers, soybeans or olives. The price of a quart of oil in the market has become our own popular indicator of well-being versus crisis, in the thermometer that takes the temperature of scarcities. With an ever shrinking culinary culture, from Pinar del Rio to Guantanamo, most stoves know only recipes for fried foods. Hence, pork fat, or buttery liquids with high-sounding names such as “The Cook” or “Golden Ace,” prove essential in our daily lives.

When, a few days ago — with no prior warning — the price of vegetable oil in hard currency stores rose by 11.6%, the annoyance was very strong, even more so than when fuel prices rose. Many of us don’t have cars to show us that convertible pesos are continually turned into less and less gasoline, but we all face a plate every day where the prices of staple foods have soared. That this happens with no accompanying public protest, no discontented housewives raising a ruckus beating on their pots and pans, no long articles in the press complaining of the abuse, is harder to swallow than a meal with no fat. I’m more embarrassed by this tacit acceptance of rising prices than I was of the thread of mineral oil snaking down my calf before the mocking eyes of my classmates.

Abril 3rd, 2011 | Category: Generation Y | 18 comments | Printable version

Actually cooking oil even in canada is more expensive than gasoline AT 6.00 for a 3.8 litre container just maybe the government is scared that people will burn it in diesel engines . A litre of gas this morning here is 1.31 a litre at the cheapest boy am I glad I dont drive a gas guzzler .

(Apr 05, 2011 07:22 AM)goluboyvagon Wrote: [ -> ]Gallofino, is your Cuban family allowed to produce and sell oil?

Any cooking oil is very expensive even here. They are lucky to be able to process some for their needs.

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Hi GB! No. They are not technically allowed to sell the oil even though they are farmers. Plus, its hard work to expel oil from sunflower seed. I did it in the cold months and by the time two of us taking turns produced a liter we were pretty tired. So far its been for home use only. That may change some day with more seeds and a machanized system. The other benefit is the press cake. Its actually concentrated animal protien. Great for chicken and pig feed. The heads and stock of the flowers when you remove the seeds and chop it up makes for very good cow feed. So it has multiple benefits. Nothing is wasted.

Here we use olive oil almost exclusively and rarely fry any food other than eggs, also with olive oil. Occasionally my wife will make frituras or french fries but it is rare and done with sunflower oil bought here in the store.

Do Cuban people eat vegetables fried in oil?

Hungarians like fried meat (mainly) pork, fish, chicken and turkey in breadcrumbs, and we also like their fried liver-in breadcrumbs-, and vegetables all in breadcrumbs such as (stuffed) mushroom heads, cauliflower, squash or courgette. Some very passionate individuals cover even potatoes with breadcrumbs. Have you ever tried cheese or stuffed (with stew) pancakes in breadcrumbs?
We serve these dishes with rice-often mixed with peas and or corns called "rizibizi"-chips, mashed potatoes, jacket potatoes or boiled potatoes mixed with parsley and we top these fried "stuffs" with tartar sauce. Hmmmmmm!!!!
All these dishes need lots of cooking oil and they require a Hungarian belly.