By Osmel Almaguer
HAVANA TIMES – During my first months in this country, I was quite affected by the fact that I couldn’t find malt beverages in the stores and markets. A Venezuelan who worked with me told me, “They don’t have it here,” and I found it absurd beyond measure.
Brazilians don’t know what a malt beverage is. They don’t miss it, as they’ve never had it, and sometimes they are even shocked by the idea of a non-alcoholic malt drink, since what they do have here are malted beers.
Both Venezuelans and Cubans really love it. They have it in Venezuela, while most Cubans haven’t tasted it in a long time. So, when we escape from Cuba, one of the things we hope to find on the other side, aside from meats, cheeses, and hams, is malt.
I later spoke to many fellow compatriots, and we were all in the same limbo. “Where would they sell it?” And no one knew. For Venezuelans, their dilemma is double and worse because they don’t have the famous “harina pan” here, which is used to make arepas – something like saying “rice and beans” to Cubans.
I saw some offers on social media at really high prices, and I stopped worrying until my sister found, just last week, a small neighborhood store only two blocks from our rental, where they sell it, and they even said they always have it.
Today, we only bought three cans, of the “Maltin Polar” brand, because 10 reals each is a bit expensive in relation to our economy. But after two years in this country, thinking I would never taste it again, I was able to enjoy its flavor with condensed milk.
Polar is a Venezuelan company with a production plant in the United States, where they also produce “harina pan.” Apparently, some company has decided to start importing malt due to the growing demand from Venezuelans and Cubans in this country.
My drama with malt still seems exaggerated to me. Who would care that I don’t drink malt, especially when in Cuba, our families don’t have the basic foods needed to survive? Many times, they don’t even have bread, nor electricity to cook rice, or to store the little piece of chicken they manage to get with great difficulty.
In any case, a country without malt seems like a striking fact to me.
Read more from Osmel Almaguer’s diary here.
