They reveal that slaves ate better than today's Cubans

Detailed historical research reveals that slaves during the 18th and 19th centuries enjoyed a diet notably superior in nutritional value and abundance compared to the diet Cubans have access to today.

The prominent Cuban historian of the 20th century Manuel Moreno Fraginals, in his extensive work "El Ingenio", shows that Cuban slaves consumed a daily diet that includedhalf a pound of beef, jerky, cod.

Likewise, they ate 500 grams of corn flour a day, in addition to sweet potato, cassava, pumpkin, among other foods, recalled theCuban Conflict Observatory, which published this Wednesday the update of a text previously published by the independent mediaCuban Diary.

Such figures were confirmed by other investigations such as the Spanish “Black Code” of 1824, which states that the slaves on the island ate7 ounces of meat daily (210 grams). In 1842 in the colonial “Regulations of Cuba” of that year it was reported that slaves ate8 ounces of meat daily (240 grams).

Fraginals explains that in addition to meat and fish, the burly Cuban slavesThey ate chilindrón de chivo, and congrí, plantain tostones, funche (corn stew),fried food, Quimbombo, and viands with mojos(taroes, bananas, yams).

This diet provided the slaves with approximately70 grams of protein animal, 13 grams of fat and 382 calories, in addition to 15 grams of vegetable protein daily, the historian emphasizes.

However, such figures contrast drastically with the reality in today's Cuba, where peasants do not have access to even a fraction of the variety and quantity of food that slaves enjoyed, says the Observatory.

The lack of protein in the diet is evidenced by the growing malnutrition and/or malnutrition on the island.

Many citizens barely haveaccess to beef, and some haven't even tried it in years.

"Today on the island we eat less beef than in Ethiopia (1.3 pounds per month) or the Gambia (1.2 pounds), two of thepoorest countries in the world according to the FAO," the text highlights.

It mentions that nutritionists assure that an adult should ingest 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight daily.

That is, someone who weighs 165 pounds should consume between 55 and 60 grams of protein daily, which is especially found in foods of animal origin.

"A single half-pound beef steak contains 60 grams of protein, all that an adult needs daily, and double the 36 grams of a pork steak of equal weight (and which includes 40 grams of saturated fat), and 30% more than the 42 grams provided by half a pound of chicken," explains the Observatory.

The text clarifies that grandparents in 1958 ate 10 times more meat than their grandchildren do today: in that year, consumptionper capita of Cuban beef was 6.7 pounds per month, the third highest in Latin America after Argentina and Uruguay.

However, in 2023 the average Latin American consumption of beef was 11 pounds per month per capita (according to the FAO), while that of Cuba did not even reach one pound per month.