A woman identified as Yesi Concepcion published a 46-second video on Facebook in which she claimed that she would prepare slugs to eat in sauce after collecting them following the rain.
The clip has garnered over 67,000 views and hundreds of comments, many of which are marked by skepticism, as the recording ends without showing the finished dish or the woman eating the slugs.
While she appears to be cutting what she identifies as slugs on a board, the woman explains that she went out to look for them after it rained and that she planned to prepare them in sauce for dinner.
"This is what I will be eating in Cuba, gentlemen, because there is nothing, there is no meat. I mean, there is some, but it's very expensive. So I'm going to prepare my slugs to make them in sauce," she states.
During the recording, he also assures that he will accompany the snails with "some white rice, a few ripe tomatoes, and some ripe plantains," although those foods do not appear in the images.
The post sparked intense debate on social media, where many users questioned whether the woman actually cooked and ate the slugs. The main reason for the skepticism was that the video ends without showing the supposed finished dish or the moment of consumption.
"When is the video of you eating?" asked one person. "But why don't you finish the video already eating? You should eat so that we can believe you," pointed out another. In the same vein, messages like "I want to see you eat them," "But you didn't eat them," and "That's a lie, to believe it we need to see you eating" appeared. Others directly requested a follow-up: "We want the second part of you eating the slugs."
The suspicions went further. Several internet users interpreted the scene as a staged performance created solely to generate interactions on social media. "That's pure content, it's a lie," one person remarked; "That has to be a joke," commented another. There were also those who summed up their impression with a "Seriously, or is it content?" while another individual stated, "Hunger in Cuba doesn't lead to that situation; this is more about content than anything else."
Others were even more emphatic: "I think it's a lie. If he eats them, I will believe him," stated one person, while another wrote: "All lies. You can't see when he eats them." "Poor slugs, sacrificing them for a lie," lamented another comment. It was also noted: "I don't believe you killed those little creatures just for content." The reactions show that a significant part of the debate wasn't as much about whether someone could actually eat slugs, but rather the lack of images proving that it happened in this specific case.
The scene also sparked rejection and humorous comments. "I prefer to eat rice by itself," wrote one person who claimed to have never seen garden snails considered food. "I'll eat the banana and the tomatoes on their own," commented another. Some joked, "There are just too few; you'll be missing out on protein," while another quipped, "That wouldn’t even be enough to fill a tooth."
However, not everyone regarded the possibility of eating these types of mollusks as implausible. Some participants in the discussion shared experiences from other countries. "In Spain, people eat them; I, a Cuban, do not," wrote one person. Another explained that while they are consumed in Spain, she specified that "they are not street snails; they are farmed." From Italy, another response noted that there are even culinary festivals related to these mollusks, while a netizen living in Europe commented that she had learned to eat foods she previously rejected, including snails.
Testimonies also emerged claiming knowledge of consumption cases. "The husband of one of my aunts makes locrios with that, but my aunt doesn’t eat it, only he does," one person reported. Another stated that her husband had indeed tried them. However, these experiences do not confirm what happened in the video nor do they dismiss an important distinction noted by other participants: consuming farmed or prepared mollusks for food is not the same as gathering wild slugs from the ground.
Precisely, another focus of the discussion was the potential health risks. "That's super dangerous; slugs carry a parasite," one person warned, while another cautioned that the video could pose "a serious risk if others believe it and eat them." There were also comments sharing information about the possible presence of parasites in wild slugs. These warnings should not be taken on their own as verified medical information, but they illustrate the extent to which the post sparked concern in addition to incredulity.
Amidst the rejection and doubts, comments also emerged that linked the scene to the country's food situation. "There is need in Cuba, that is well known, but there's no need to exaggerate," wrote one person. Another was more pessimistic: "In the end, there are those in Cuba who will eat that and more." A third summed up their reaction with a much more dramatic statement: "My God, I am at a loss for words about the situation there."
Beyond whether the scene is authentic or designed to generate content—which the video itself does not clarify, as it does not show the woman cooking or eating the slugs—the discussion is linked to a food crisis that is well documented in Cuba.
The scarcity of proteins and the collapse of purchasing power have recently produced images that would have been hard to imagine at other times. A report cited by CiberCuba documented that Cubans have turned to hunting wild birds, cats, and iguanas as sources of food, amidst a chronic protein shortage.
Specific cases have also made their way to social media. In early January 2026, a video showed Cuban farmers roasting a rodent for New Year's Eve dinner. Months earlier, in March 2025, neighbors sacrificed and ate an abandoned cat, an incident that sparked outrage and brought to light the extent to which the lack of food can push people.
The search for substitutes has not always involved resorting to animals. During the Special Period, preparations such as grapefruit steak or picadillo and ropa vieja made from banana peels became well known—survival recipes that have re-emerged decades later amid the crisis.
In 2026, networks have continued to showcase adaptations that are increasingly distant from the traditional diet of many families. In June, a Cuban prepared fruit bomba with fried egg after running out of rice.
The absence or high price of rice, one of the cornerstones of the Cuban table, has also forced changes in habits. Some families have substituted rice with purées of cassava, sweet potato, plantain, and other root vegetables, not necessarily out of culinary preference, but because for many families it has become difficult to acquire it regularly.
In August, another video highlighted this precarious situation when a Cuban showed bread with oil as the food option available to her. Stories like this, beyond their viral component, portray the loss of diversity and quality in everyday nutrition.
For that reason, although nothing in the video of the slugs suggests that the woman actually cooked or ate them, the controversy does not arise in a vacuum. The disbelief of those who suspect that it is merely content for social media coexists with a documented reality: for years, many Cubans have had to remove basic products from their diet, substitute traditional ingredients, and, in the most extreme cases, resort to animals or preparations they would have scarcely considered food before.
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