Hace siete décadas, aludiendo a una opinión circulante en la ciudad, José Lezama Lima expresó en una crónica: “En lo que ya alguien ha llamado lugares comunes de segundo grado, se oye: en La Habana no hay un sitio donde conversar, un café arquetipo, sin ruido y donde entre sorbos se pueda hablar de la teoría de las ideas o de los colores…”.
Como muchos de los textos incluidos en Tratados en La Habana, aquella crónica, en lo esencial, tiene vigencia. La capital de la mayor de Las Antillas comparte con muchas otras ciudades del Caribe ese ambiente ruidoso, poco propicio para la conversación, que penetra en los espacios públicos –restaurantes incluidos– y se adueña de ellos. Porque hay una falsa idea de lo cubano que asocia lo bullanguero con nuestra identidad, como si en la Isla siempre viviéramos de fiesta, bailando rumba y tocando maracas. No es nada nuevo, pero en los últimos años ha tomado forma de epidemia y se ha extendido hasta lo intolerable.
Escenario favorito para el jolgorio carnavalesco es la zona más antigua de la urbe, la cual está invadida, a cualquier hora, por todo tipo de buscavidas tras las oleadas de turistas que la recorren. El son, la guaracha y la infaltable Guantanamera son maltratados de manera constante y sin contemplaciones por improvisados músicos callejeros.
Lejos quedaron los tiempos en que podías ir a La Bodeguita del Medio y escuchar a Carlos Puebla o al trío Taicuba, ver cómo Varilla te preparaba un mojito y hasta conversar con Martínez mientras paladeabas los frijoles negros, las masas de puerco y la yuca con mojo. Más enterrado aún está el recuerdo de Bola de Nieve actuando en Monseigneur. Tan lejano como El Chori tocando en los bares de Playa.
Como es conocido, la antigua red de restaurantes que había en La Habana hasta 1990 ya no existe. Algunos de los sobrevivientes solo conservan el nombre, pero no su alma. El Polinesio, El Mandarín, La Torre, El Conejito, El Emperador… solo habitan en la nostalgia. Y allí siempre aparece la comida.
Recordemos que la comida cubana, representada por su plato más típico, el ajiaco, constituyó el símbolo utilizado por Fernando Ortiz en su clásica conferencia de 1939 en la Universidad de La Habana, “Los factores humanos de la cubanidad”. Pero, ¿saben las últimas generaciones cómo se prepara un ajiaco? ¿Conocen su sabor? Por supuesto que no. Hace muchos años que fue sustituido por ese plato que llaman caldosa, en el cual entra cualquier tipo de alimento, sin orden ni concierto, sin respetar los tiempos de cocción como debe hacerse en el ajiaco. Curiosamente, la caldosa está asociada con celebraciones comunitarias, por tanto suele estar acompañada de resonantes altavoces que pregonan el entusiasmo sonoro en muchos metros a la redonda.
La comida y los nuevos tiempos
La comida ha devenido tema recurrente en las investigaciones sociales. Cientos de artículos se publican diariamente sobre alimentación y salud. En tanto la obesidad se ha convertido en amenazante epidemia, adelgazar es una obsesión para los pasados de libras, así que todo tipo de dietas y ejercicios proclaman ser lo ideal para tener el peso adecuado.
En los nuevos relatos alimentarios, la carne, el pan blanco, el azúcar, los lácteos, las grasas, protagonizan papeles de villanos frente a las bondades del pescado, las frutas, los vegetales. Según esos preceptos, la dieta mediterránea es la panacea universal para estar sano y ser feliz.
Sin embargo, esa obsesión por la comida sana pasa a un obligado segundo plano bajo el imperativo de la economía. Para quien está sumido en la escasez financiera el problema no es comer sano, sino comer, sin pretensiones. Y aterrizando en la Isla, recordamos el dicho popular que reza: “en Cuba solo hay tres problemas: el desayuno, el almuerzo y la comida”. Entre una pizza y un aguacate (que tienen el mismo precio) apenas hay alternativa.
Decenas de cafeterías, paladares, restaurantes, se han ido estableciendo en la capital. En no pocos hay un variado menú que combina, con acierto, la cocina cubana con la internacional; incluso, con un agradable ambiente sonoro que respeta a los clientes, que no impide el flujo conversacional. Pero es necesaria una mayor accesibilidad de la población a estos lugares, para que así como antes podías ir a comer pollo a la barbacoa en El Polinesio, paella en Taramar, arroz frito en El Mandarín, o lechón asado en El Cochinito, puedas saborear ahora un camarón al ajillo sin desangrar tu economía. Para la gran mayoría, esos espacios no existen.
En los ochenta del pasado siglo, los bares de El Conejito y La Torre, uno frente a otro, se disputaban la suprema excelencia del ramo. Desde su altura, el segundo era sitio predilecto del romance, mientras el primero acaparaba a los contertulios del universo cultural. Y cómo olvidar al inefable restaurante Moscú, con su barra gigantesca, su siempre animada pista de baile, sus variados salones, su exquisito (y barato) menú. En el fuego que lo consumió, ardió una época: La Habana no ha vuelto a tener algo similar.
Distante en el tiempo, en Las Sombrillitas de Prado, la conversación y la música tenían una cita cada noche, sin estridencia, en una zona de confort que han perdido los espacios públicos más populares. Pero como dice doña Augusta en Paradiso –mientras destapa la sopera donde humea una cuajada de sopa de plátanos–: “hay tantas cosas que nos gustaron de niños y que sin embargo no volveremos a disfrutar”. Ω
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