Centro Habana 14.01.2014 - The comida, or food, is a very debated topic and Cubans always joke or complain about the lack of food, its low quality or the exorbitant prices. One of the favorite subjects is la vaca, the cow. “Didn’t you know that cows in Cuba are more sacred than in India?”. What appeared to be a joke is in fact reality. It seems that before the Revolution there used to be more than one cow per capita. Then, for unknown reasons (that led to many fantastic conjectures) now there are just a few specimen. Therefore the meat is rare, expensive and only Government officers and tourists get the chance to eat it. Not even farmers who have their own cow are authorized to slaughter it because, de facto, it is State property. It becomes even more absurd when I hear that killing a cow could lead to 5 to 10 years of jail. I make sure it’s not just another joke but, crazy as it may seem, in this case it is reality.