Anayad Sánchez, a Cuban resident, recently shared a compelling video on Facebook illustrating the harsh reality of the island's food scarcity. In this video, she demonstrates how to prepare a traditional dish, congrí, without its essential ingredient—beans. Instead, she substitutes with guava tree bark, showcasing the lengths to which Cubans must go to adapt during the ongoing crisis.
In her step-by-step guide, Anayad details her method: boiling the guava bark just as one would beans, straining it thoroughly, and then adding the usual sofrito, salt, and sugar. "Trust me when I say it looks, smells, and tastes just like regular congrí," she asserts confidently.
Anayad insists that this is not merely her own invention. "This wasn't told to me; it was my lived experience," she explains, crediting the technique to the wisdom of older generations. She concludes her video with a poignant remark that encapsulates two crises: "To the rice cooker, if the power stays on," directly referencing the frequent power outages that complicate cooking in Cuba.
The video, tagged with #LivingInCuba and #RealLifeNoFilters, has garnered over 147,000 views, resonating deeply with many Cubans who see their own struggles reflected in her story.
Congrí Without Beans: A Symbol of Economic Collapse
Congrí, a dish whose name derives from the Haitian Creole words "congó" (beans) and "riz" (rice), is a cultural staple. The need to prepare it without its core component highlights not just a culinary adaptation but the broader failure of Cuba's centrally planned food system.
Statistics reinforce what Anayad's video vividly portrays. The Food Monitor Program reports that as of last April, 96.91% of Cubans lack adequate access to nutritious food. Further, the "Cuba's Hunger 2025" survey found that in the past month, 33.9% of households had at least one member go to bed hungry, marking a 9.3% increase from the previous year.
Between 2018 and 2023, domestic bean production plummeted by 70%, according to official figures. In some provinces, beans fetch over 350 Cuban pesos per pound on the informal market, while the average state salary is barely 7,000 pesos monthly. Even rice, congrí's other main ingredient, costs more than 400 pesos per pound.
Adaptations Born from Necessity
Anayad's recipe is not an isolated case. Social media has seen a rise in emergency culinary solutions, including ropa vieja made with plantain skins, yuca peel fritters, and root vegetable purees as rice substitutes, along with homemade bread in response to soaring prices.
The ingenuity of the Cuban people, rather than being a celebrated trait, is a necessity-driven response to decades of economic policies that have ravaged domestic agriculture and left the nation reliant on imports for 70% to 80% of its food supply.
In light of the severe food crisis on the island, the United Nations has requested $94 million to aid two million Cubans—approximately one in five residents.
Understanding Cuba's Food Crisis
What is congrí, and why is it significant in Cuban culture?
Congrí is a traditional Cuban dish made of rice and beans, fundamental to the country's culinary identity. Its significance lies in its cultural roots and the fact that it highlights the current food shortages when it must be prepared without beans.
How are Cubans adapting to the food crisis?
Cubans are turning to creative substitutions and alternative recipes, such as using guava bark instead of beans in congrí, and employing plantains and yuca as meat replacements, to cope with food shortages and high prices.