A Cuban mother became the star of a viral video on Facebook, in which she shows the food she received from a humanitarian donation coming from Mexico, and her reaction of confusion and humor towards what she described as "edible polystyrene."
The woman showed her friends and followers a packet of amaranth, a cereal completely unknown in Cuba, and asked for help to understand what it was and what she could do with it.
The video, published by the account "Azucar Cuba," has garnered nearly 450,000 views and more than 2,200 comments.
In it, the Cuban woman - who has a three-year-old daughter - shows the three products she received as a donation: a can of tuna, a package of María cookies, and the mysterious package of amaranth.
"What the hell is this? This, I don't know. It says amaranth. Sir, what is this, is it edible? Because this looks like foam," he says, holding the package with evident perplexity.
The comparison with the packaging material of electronic equipment perfectly encapsulates the cultural shock: amaranth, with its fluffy texture and granular appearance, is not part of the Cuban diet and is not commonly traded on the Island.
The mother soon imagined the digestive consequences for her little one: "Do you remember the foam pieces that come in boxes to protect the equipment? I can already see my daughter pooping little balls."
And he ended with an invitation to his followers: "Share the video. Let's see what the hell this is for, right? Because the truth is I have no clue."
In the video, she also refers to the Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum by the nickname that has become popular among Cubans: "Claudia Shampoó".
Amaranth is a pseudocereal of Mesoamerican origin with over 7,000 years of history in Mexico, where it is consumed toasted, cooked like oatmeal, or mixed into soups and salads.
Its high protein content—between 9 and 14 grams per 100 grams—makes it a food of high nutritional value, although its appearance and texture may seem completely foreign to someone who has never seen it.
The video is produced within the context of the humanitarian shipments that Mexico has sent to Cuba since February 12, when the first shipment of 814 tons of food arrived.
Since then, the government of Claudia Sheinbaum has sent at least four official shipments transported by ships of the Mexican Navy, totaling more than 4,000 tons of rice, beans, sugar, lentils, powdered milk, cookies, tuna, amaranth, medicines, and solar panels.
The distribution, through state warehouses with notation in the supply booklet, has been uneven.
The journalist Vladimir Turró Páez reported on Tuesday that a boy from the Calleja neighborhood received only a package of cookies Maria and two cans of tuna. "That was all that arrived," he wrote.
The Ministry of Domestic Trade (MINCIN) informed that beneficiaries have 30 days to pick up the products from the time they arrive.
The video of the Cuban mother with the amaranth humorously illustrates the cultural gap between donors and recipients, but it also highlights the depth of a crisis in which 36% of the Cuban population is facing food insecurity after 67 years of communist dictatorship.
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