Fourteenth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Cuba is no stranger to food shortages, and Cuban culture has contested food scarcity in a myriad of ways. In this paper, I trace the particular form of Cuban humor known as choteo in contemporary state-run television and independent digital media. I give a brief history of the concept of choteo as described by Cuban philosopher Jorge Mañach and describe its contours in what I see as a literary precursor to current humoristic discourses on food in the short stories of Virgilio Piñera that hinge on the tension between laughter and hunger. I elaborate the meaning of the hashtag “reir por on llorar” (“laugh so as not to cry”) as a strategy for confronting the difficulty of putting together what anthropologist Hanna Garth has called “a decent meal.” I trace this discursive strategy and its political implications in the Cubavision television program “Vivir del cuento” as well as in contemporary social media content made by citizens on the island. I argue that choteo is employed as a means of contesting authority and registering discontent, while at the same time it reinforces the dignity and resilience contained in the capacity to laugh in the face of adversity.