All Hail Ubre Blanca


There’s few regimes in the world as invested in dairy as communist Cuba. Milk is a staple of the Cuban diet, and its production is a vital industry and relevant economic indicator.

Castro retired from the Cuban presidency in 2008, handing the reigns over to his brother, Pres. Raúl Castro. But throughout Fidel’s reign, his interest in leche betrayed both personal and political motives that he often couched in Cold War rhetoric.

For him, Cuban dairy was a symbol of the country’s “ongoing revolution” in opposition to Western and capitalist interests.

When Castro seized power in 1959, he implemented a series of economic, industrial and agricultural reforms. He oversaw many of them himself, and salvaging Cuba’s troubled milk and cattle industries became top priorities.

One of his first pet projects was to produce a superior Camembert cheese. The soft, creamy cheese is an iconic French food … and Castro wanted to do better.
When French agronomist and diplomat Andre Voisin visited Cuba in 1964, Castro urged him to confess that the new “Cuban Camembert” cheese produced on the island was superior to France’s own.

Biographer Robert Quirk summarized the exchange between Castro and Voisin in his book Fidel Castro. According to Quirk, Castro implored Voisin to try some of the new “Cuban Camembert.” Voisin complied.

“Not too bad,” the diplomat said.

This failed to satisfy Castro, and he pushed Voisin further, comparing the Cuban version to the French. Voisin agreed that it was a Camembert “in the French style” and that it was “not bad.”

“It’s like the French,” the diplomat added reluctantly.

Castro pushed further, insisting that Voisin acknowledge it was in fact better than French Camembert. This was too much for Voisin. He slammed his fist down on the counter. “Better? Never!” he exclaimed.

Next, he reached over and pulled a cigar from Castro’s pocket. “Will you agree that there is a better cigar in the world than this?” Voisin asked. “You can’t beat tradition. My cheese and your cigars have centuries of experience behind them.”

Quirk concluded that while Castro was “pacified” for the moment, the dictator remained certain that “with intense effort and revolutionary awareness, the Cubans could surpass any country in the world in any field of endeavor.”

But the efforts to outdo the French Camembert quickly faded, and Castro focused his attention on another front — making sure Cuba had more flavors of ice cream than America.