Every Cuban child knows the importance of a jabita de la merienda.
It is the small bag you take to school with whatever there is for the break. Maybe a piece of bread. Maybe crackers. Maybe a juice box if somebody was lucky that week. Sometimes it was an actual little lunchbox. More often, it was a plastic jaba that had already lived several lives before becoming part of your school routine.
You carried it carefully because there was no guarantee there would be anything to replace what was inside.
In Cuba, children learn early not to throw food away. If your mother gave you a sandwich, you did not leave half of it because you were “not hungry.” You wrapped it back up. Someone else might want it later. Food was not something to waste; it was something to manage.
The jabita de la merienda could also reveal a small map of social differences. One kid had cookies from abroad. Another had bread with something improvised inside. Somebody had nothing and pretended they were not hungry.
But there was sharing too. Cubans have always found ways to share, even when there was little to share. “Dame un pedacito.” “Toma, prueba.” A snack could become five small pieces very quickly.
It was never a glamorous lunch. But it was part of growing up Cuban: a plastic bag, a school break, and the constant question every child understood:
“¿Qué trajiste de merienda?”
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