Is flour a substitute for rice in Cuba? It also "keeps rising."

A Cuban ironically suggested on Facebook to declare Mondays as the "Weekly Flour Day" in response to the high price of rice on the island. However, many agree that corn flour is not an affordable alternative either.

Yaudel Rodríguez Vento wrote that "given the skyrocketing prices that rice has reached, I have declared Mondays as the Weekly Flour Day," and added with bitter humor that rice "is no longer bought by the pound; it's inquired about at the bank, a loan is requested, and it's included in the will."

“That strategy was valid in the past. Corn flour prices are through the roof”, replied a user, who noted that sweet potatoes are around 120 pesos per pound, cassava 100, malanga 250, and plantains 100. “The reality of this moment has shaped itself in such a way that there is no escape.”

The reported prices of flour in the publication vary by province, but none are affordable: 300 pesos per pound in Matanzas, 320 and 360 at different locations, and even 500 pesos per pound according to another comment without a specified location. From Havana, a user was straightforward: "Flour? One pound costs 360 pesos."

Spaghetti is also not exempt from price increases. From Matanzas, a Cuban cautioned that pasta is "not even worth looking at," with prices ranging between 850 and 900 pesos per package, and that "any broth costs between 800 and 1,000 pesos for ingredients."

Rice is priced in most provinces between 390 and 500 pesos per pound. One user recounted that when he went to buy it, he "almost had a heart attack: 500 for rice." Another suggested selling it "not by the pound but by the grain, five grains per person."

For his part, another Cuban proposed a "weekly poverty menu": rice on Monday, flour with salt on Tuesday, greasy-free plantain on Wednesday, herbal tea on Thursday, boiled egg on Friday, room-temperature water on Saturday, and "look up" on Sunday.

The situation is reminiscent of the so-called Special Period in the 1990s, when Cubans alternated rice with root vegetables and flour to survive. The difference, according to the commentators themselves, is that now everything is scarce and expensive at the same time, with no basic food serving as a real refuge.