|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban
ingenuity applied to fuel conservation
HAVANA, September (www.cubanet.org) - Cuban ingenuity
is equally at home improvising devices that render
every day chores easier if not just plain possible
in the face of asphyxiating scarcity, as it is
to coming up with names for the said devices.
Take the No-no, for instance.
Dulce, a close relative who recently moved to
Havana from the provinces, brought it with her.
Simple and effective as country folk. I'll let
my notes tell the story.
Paid welcoming visit to the relative, who offered
to make coffee. She prepared the little espresso
pot, then pulled out a little round tin, two inches
in diameter and three-quarters of an inch tall,
half-filled it with alcohol, lit it, and set the
coffee pot on top.
Amazing little stove. Queried relative.
"That is a No-no," with the self-assurance
of one not used to putting up with any nonsense.
Obvious puzzled look on my face elicited further
comment: "Take a cumin tin, open 9 holes
on top and a few more around the sides, put in
a small measure of alcohol, and in less than 10
minutes you can make coffee, fry an egg or an
omelet, warm some milk... What's your pleasure?"
And the point?
"Save fuel. You have any idea how difficult
it is to get cooking fuel in the provinces? You
set a hungry man to thinking how to cook with
almost no fuel, and, voilà! The No-no."
OK, so the name has to do with cooking with almost
no alcohol?
"Nah, character in a Brazilian soap-opera.
Biggest cheapskate you ever did see."
|
