In Cuba, 52 kilometers to the east of Havana and in the middle of a mountainous area, a restaurant is showing its customers over a thousand different ways to feed, using and combining a significant part of those edible fruits and plants that nature has on offer.
We are located in the Sierra del Rosario, an area highly eroded as a consequence of over-intensive cultivation of coffee by French colonists during the 19th century; impoverished and abandoned during the larger part of the 20th century; reforested over the last forty years thanks to a Government scheme for natural development, with over six million seedlings, which have by now grown to be great and solid trees; and declared by UNESCO a “Biosphere Reserve” in 1985. We are located in this area, in the centre of the community “Las Terrazas”, in the province of Artemisa; we, that is the Eco-Restaurant El Romero, - Rosmarinus officinalis Lin. The restaurant was born in 2003 for the inhabitants’ education and pleasure, and for many visitors who by now come from many parts of the world to meet us.
GenesisBy tradition, Cubans, and most of all the peasants in the mountains, prefer to eat what is considered to be typical Creole food: Fried and grilled meat, white, well-cored rice; stew made of black beans, spiced with onion, garlic, peppers and thyme; boiled yucca, and with some lemon or sour orange juice, salt, fried in hot oil; green salad with tomato slices and cucumber, dressed with oil, lemon or vinegar and salt; for afters, Guava jam with cream cheese or yellow cheese is considered almost obligatory; and to round it off: strong, sweet, black Espresso.
A series of lectures proved insufficient to change the culinary traditions of hundreds of village inhabitants, and even the youngest pupils were unmoved at first. The idea of a restaurant with a different style, in a pure and rural environment, left people gazing at the menu with astonishment during the first days. Some commented, even making rude remarks like: “They have nothing to eat.” “These are weird things: we’ve never seen anything like it.”
These affirmations were in response to exotic dishes like: Lotus blossom Cebiche (our aperitif), Malanga and Chaya rissole; spurs of chickpeas, eggplant, and sunflower seeds; integral grain rolls with aromatic herbs; salads with seedlings, seasoned with vegetables and multicolour plants; the Chalupa (similar to a Shallop), filled with a puree of sweet potato boiled in tigernut milk, together with toasted and ground sesame seeds and peanuts, rice cream and bee honey; or a liquid refresher called Anti-stress, a drink made on the basis of cactus pear leaves, peppermint, orange and pineapple juice. They were, amongst others, names of ingredients that touched areas of the palate left unexplored by the customs of down-to-earth and often poor generations.
In the village, doubts and mockery started spontaneously when talk arose of the Eco-Restaurant. The nick-name used by almost all to refer to the restaurant: “El Vegetariano – The Vegetarian”, often said innocently but sometimes even with stubborn irony, appeared to leave no scope for recognizing it by its proper name: Eco-Restaurante “El Romero” - Rosmarinus officinalis Lin - which had been chosen with care, looking for a name that would evoke “nature and knowledge” for a new establishment with an eco-didactics orientation.
The ConceptConceived as a gourmet Eco-Restaurant - for subtle palatines - El Romero classifies among those that are renown for deep operational design, or, put differently, those that improve and perfect though their drive and progression. El Romero presents a nutritious kitchen, creative, healthy, and of course delicious, with a wide range of dishes created by the author’s own recipes.
In keeping with its productive flow, it has subscribed to the Law of eco-catering, defined as: the gastronomic option that suggests recuperating those nourishments the human being needs by taking them directly from the products that grow in the earth.
Like this, El Romero organizes its culinary service in total harmony with the environment. Its operating cycle starts with the cultivation and production of a large part of products that are used both in the kitchen: spices, vegetables, early vegetables, fruit, seeds, grains, berries, nuts, flours, tuber roots and Creole eggs, as well as for waiting: clay pots, absorbents, baskets, containers, plates: the purification of drinking water by use of a clay jug, a natural stone filter, and a mount made of wood to keep it in the shade in a cool place, the use of solar energy for drying some of its ingredients, fermentation of liqueurs, boiling water, cooking of various dishes, and, in the future, electricity production, too. Then there is the use of many other clean technologies, right down to recycling of leftovers, which are used indiscriminately to make fertilizers or as animal food: chickens, laying hens, and other animals that live freely within their habitat, harmoniously integrated with the ambience.
Thus, a non-contaminating, low-cost productive cycle is established, connected coherently with the dietetic principles that sane alimentation promotes, or, in a nutshell: we serve everything made of fresh ingredients, wild or cultivated by organic techniques.
To season its dishes, El Romero has an organic garden consisting of several beds which keep ground humidity at stable levels, furrowed patches, where we sow directly on the earth, and a structure of rustic trunks, shaped like a cassette, to protect some of our more delicate plants during the hottest periods from the sun. Additionally, there is a cage in the form of a pyramid, which protects various plants from the animals in its environs.
The aromatic garden treasures an extensive variety of salutary herbs for seasoning. Other varieties of plants grow wild in the close-by lakes and hills, and they are collected by people setting out on foot, bicycle, or with the help of a friendly mule.
A modest kitchen, well-equipped, is open for all to see, and reveals some of its secrets. The service areas include fresh-air tables in the shade in a luxurious setting, a small bar with high stools in the old cantina-style, an open dining area with a large window front, which sits 30 in a very pleasant ambience, and, moreover, a cool terrace, with a table for six persons, and a view of the surrounding hills.
Always ready to offer a gastronomic service beyond comparison, our young, friendly, and professional team attends its clients with dedication and care.
The mission
El Romero proposes:
- avoiding the maltreatment and sacrifice of animals
- the enrichment of the nutritional culture of the community and of its clients
- a positive contribution to its followers’ health
- the development of the knowledge and use of edible plants and herbs
- stimulation of sustainable production on the basis of organic techniques
- developing the use of local resources of an alimentary as well as of other natures
- developing the progress of natural, ecologic, sensorial and scientific cuisines
- enabling an harmonic, clean, and fair atmosphere to allow all to enjoy the tidbits that our professional kitchen team elaborates
El Romero counts on its own book of recipes in order to remember the proportions and refined aspects during the confection of its dishes. The book represents an “identity manual”, in which the design details are specified, along with the ambience of the restaurant, its system of information and communication and further procedures, the definitions of routines for the organization of the work, as well as the good hygiene practice, sanitary arrangements, general workflow, conservation of ingredients, defined for every single one of the steps through which they pass during their preparation. All is conceived on the basis of research, norms, and updated searches, inspired by the following principles: ethical, scientific, technical, cultural, and with regard to vibe and energy.
The nutritional, sane and culinary qualities of the products we have on offer have been studied and approved by authorities, institutions, and competent personalities, who do not doubt the advantages, safety, and benign effects that this new type of eco-restaurant service has on the health of those who enjoy it as well as that of the environment.
The Offers
The menu of the Eco-Restaurant contains a wide variety of preparations, which are:
- refreshing drinks (aguas vivas [waters of life], liquid essences, juices, extracts), cocktails (own and traditional ones)
- aperitifs (“Malva”: ¾ a dish of lotus flower which comes courtesy of the house, rolls, small slices of bread, biscuits, sticks and dips)
- starters (soups, creams, small stews)
- salads and dressings (of fruit, vegetables, mixed pickles) and the famous “ensolada” (a word mix of ensalada, salad and sol, sun), which is made of various vegetables cooked in the solar oven
- dishes a la carte (grilled, fried, braised, baked)
- The Great Main Dishes (“Crepol”, “Jinete”, “Galante”, “Boliche”, “Andante con Brío”, y, “Superromeroxp”)
- Afters (“snow”, “chalupas”, “coquettish” little oranges)
- After-dinner drinks (“Café colao”, a traditional way of drinking coffee in Cuba, “Perfect Tea”, “Café a las finas hierbas”, coffee with fine herbs)
- A wide selection of wine and bottled liqueurs
All dishes are offered in three different sizes, small, medium, and large, with corresponding prices, and following well-tested standards and own designs, simple and attractive.
The menu, printed on recycled paper and with various offers, propositions and suggestions, is currently available in six different languages.
Other professional services
As a consequence of the development and specialization of its tasks, the Eco-Restaurant is in position to offer further services, such as: technical assessment, for regular students as well as cuisine professionals, consultancy for projects of a similar nature, training for various culinary and gastronomic specializations, classes and conferences for affiliated groups with determined interests, menu and kitchen recipe projects – ecologic, vegetarian, vegan, or natural, organization of cocktail parties and banquets on and outside the premises, a calculation program for managing the engineering of already existing menus, which allows making lists of the inventory, goods and supplies within a few minutes, and which generates the necessary information for accountability systems, and which even allocates corporate franchise for the operation of the productive flow in other areas where it may be valued and organically adjusted to principle of eco-gastronomy.
Close to the lustration
The Eco-Restaurant "El Romero" is, today, the pride of its village. Its book with reservations is filled with requests for booking tables in advance. The population does not hesitate to recommend it to visitors, friends, and tourists. The latter, through their recommendations, in turn, have positioned it in travel guides on Cuba, for example Lonely Planet, and in travellers’ sites on the internet, where many comment frequently on their experience to inform future visitors. They admire not only the exquisiteness of the flavours, but also the dimensions of the kitchen, the elegance, the originality, own style and simplicity of the interior design, as well as the decoration of the dining area, the colouring of the table cloths, plates, and dishes, as well as the treatment of our customers, the process, the quality, and the beauty of the dishes.
The “snale”, won for having added life to the concept of eco-gastronomy by Slow Food, is today also a sign of the international recognition won by a new way of thinking and acting. Today, the followers of the restaurant, and among them: its employees, its patrons, are informed about many important concerns. They know what junk food is, and they know the dangers of preservative agents and artificial colors. They are informed about the damage sugar, refined flour, salt, cow milk and all its derivatives can cause. They argue in favor of paddy rice. They forward the demystification of animal products being the only source of high-quality biological proteins, so that they have already learnt that vegetable alimentation, as long as it is practiced properly and in a balanced manner, is perfectly capable of supplying these proteins to the body, together with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, numerous plant substances and micronutrients, all indispensable for the development of good health. They all know well that meat and its derivatives, contrary to the positive effects attributed to these foods for so many years, are accompanied by hormones, cholesterol, saturated fat, adrenaline, and even elements of chemical and pharmaceutical origins such as salts, antibiotics, and various pharmaceuticals, with noxious effects, and which are accumulated in animals as a consequence of prescribed medicines, by their own metabolisms, or thanks to the conditions of a settled lifestyle; they can also be due to conservation processes, panic in reaction to maltreatment and, as is well known, in reaction to the threat of imminent death, which they sense during their path to sacrifice.
New roles
The restaurant adds to the diffusion of a new culture of health and healthy life. On balance, it can say that it has successfully promoted new forms of preparing dishes with uncommon ingredients; it has developed habits for the creation of various objects made of natural materials which are incorporated into our rituals of our service; it has created new sources for specialized employment which meet the expectations of its economic development; it has awoken an interest in botanic knowledge; it has created new rites, such as the day on which those who work the earth are honoured, the day on which the children cook for the village presbyters, or simply the moments when the customers take each other by the hand and thank Mother Earth for the gifts that she offers. Also, it has facilitated the creation of study circles for the education of the youngest pupils in the village, which is succeeding in awakening an interest for an interesting and honourable profession, and which can give their lives meaning and prestige. But, most of all, it has succeeded in creating preferences in the youngest of all, who have learnt to enjoy many fancy foods that they would not have touched before.
Today, enthusiasm to know new ingredients and try out unknown dishes is spreading. The customers almost always arrive at the eco-restaurant with groups of friends or with their families. However, one thing has changed in the locals: once they have tried our food, they almost always look one another in the eyes. Then, various spontaneous signs of acceptance occur: twinkles, looks, smiles, and a very Cuban phrase, which is often heard during musical improvisations: “¡Pero qué bueno está esto!”, “My word, this is great!”
A restaurant made by hand
A restaurant made by hand requires, as one would have thought, attention, care, and sleight of hand for the presentation of every detail, but also a special disposition to solve every problem with ingenuity and creativity, at minimal cost and maximum effectiveness.
Examples of these qualities can be seen by visiting El Romero. You can discover this new vocation to recycle, repair, and revive everything that can and should live every time you ask or whenever anything you would like to know attracts your attention. You can also experience how old traditions are revived, as is the case with the typically Cuban chairs, the taburetes, traditionally covered with goat skins, and now, out of respect for the goats, are covered with century plant rope. Or, for example, our computer, assembled from pieces that were no longer used, and placed in the old wooden chest belonging to Granny Franca, just to cite a couple of examples. Under these ideas and these influences, our team has grown and developed: taking care of every treasure we have.
Every day, from nine thirty in the morning to nine thirty at night, the restaurant staff is ready to offer very satisfying service, often in the company of young musicians who accompany, refine, and adjust their repertoire to please their audiences, and to “infect” them with the refrain of a congenial and sticking song, composed by them themselves to capture some of the aspects of the eco-restaurant, which says: “Cuando llego a El Romero, yo despedirme no quiero”: when I arrive at El Romero, my leave I will not ask for.
Along the way
The Eco-Restaurant is always in a process of perfection. Guestbooks have been a fundamental element of its evolution, filled with opinions, felicitations, advice, suggestions, and thanks. So many signatures and observations have contributed to raise the self respect of the team and given rise to important plans, which evidence the efficiency of the motto suggested by and spreading from El Romero, and synthesized in our slogan:
So that the cows, the chicken, the fish may live, along with all our other relatives!
One has to understand that, in an ecologically sustainable world, however much they make an effort to explain and justify the production of food of animal origin, these very foods will never be able to cover the needs of thousands of million of human and non-human beings, who suffer hunger and malnutrition without causing irreversible ecological damage to the rest of all forms of life. They also do not bring back those millions of animals that suffer and are sacrificed every day in the slaughterhouses all over the world, nor bring back the existence of all those mammals that become extinct, nor repair the irreversible genetic damage caused thereby. And least of all do they bring back the billions of fish, persecuted even by satellites, trapped by nets in which they suffocate, perished in the mighty fishing fleets, true machineries of extermination for – or rather against - the oceans.
It is as irrational to grow food for animals as it is to grow food for combustion, as it is simply a waste of nourishment on animals that will produce a much lower amount of food than the sum of what they eat during their lives. The use of agricultural production to grow meat or biofuel constitutes, in the light of reason, a shameful waste, oblivious of the chronic hunger on our planet, and of the consequences it causes: deforestation, contamination of both air and water, all consequences of these dynamics of production, as well as the health problems of many people, who, often without knowing, see themselves caught in a chain of suffering which makes them dependent on the pharmaceutical industry and hospital practices, without the slightest hope of returning to a normal life.
Humanity has arrived, ethically and biologically, at least, at a change in paradigm of its alimentary system. The time is ripe for an ecological era of peace, health, and in harmony with the rest of all creatures alive, with equal rights, on the same level as we ourselves, on this “marvel of a planet”. Rational use of arable lands, thinking and rethinking new projects, and sharpening our intelligence will suffice to produce the sustainability necessary for all, and will avoid the global catastrophe that is announcing itself.
Interactive Multi-medium
The interactive multi-medium Eco-Restaurant "El Romero" proposes a savory, clean, healthy and balanced cuisine, which demonstrates sustainable development with all due respect to the life of animals, and in complete harmony with nature and the environment.
Rosemary, an aromatic and magical plant which brings both health to those who eat it and a name to our restaurant, now reappears to lend its name to our first multi-medium. It contains: mission, vision, history, and objectives of the eco-restaurant, over 1000 kitchen recipes with a search engine of its own, which quickly helps you find dishes with your favourite ingredients, or simply those you happen to have available in your kitchen or in the garden closest to you. It contains our menu in six languages: English, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, and French, as well as specialised articles, a glossary of culinary terms, an image gallery that shows the development and growth of the eco-restaurant from its beginnings, its repertoire of techniques, work and service areas, and its own dishes; additionally, videos related to the eco-restaurant, its community, and to the bioreserve “Sierra del Rosario”. We hope you enjoy visiting our site.
Multimedia El Romero: installable on any IBM-compatible computer with Windows operating system. Available in English, German, and Spanish.
For more details, see the demo in the dining area of El Romero.
Credits
The Eco-Restaurant “El Romero” is part of the Federación de Asociaciones Culinarias de la República de Cuba (Culinary Federation of the Republic of Cuba), and is also recognised by Slow Food, an international gastronomic organisation residing in Italy, founded in 1989 to counter the trends of fast food and fast life. Slow Food informs about the dangers of fast food and junk food, in an attempt to stop the disappearance of traditional gastronomic establishments, and combat the general disinterest in nutrition, its origins, its flavours, and the consequences of our dietary options.
Ing. Tito Armando Núñez Gudás.
Chief Executive and General Director General of the Eco-Restaurant
"El Romero".
For further information, please write to: tito@infomed.sld.cu
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