The Decline of Coppelia, Cuba’s Largest Ice Cream Parlor

The Decline of Coppelia, Cuba's Largest Ice Cream Parlor

August 13, 2013

Isbel Díaz Torres



HAVANA TIMES — In this post, I want to share something of an antiquity

with you, a copy of the original menu of Coppelia, Cuba's largest and

most famous ice-cream parlor, published in 1966 (when the establishment

was created).



The cover of the menu shows a classical ballerina rendered in a sober

combination of red, black and white, frozen in one of the poses which

are part of the choreography of Coppelia, the ballet piece, I presume.



This, however, is not what catches the attention of those of us who look

inside the historic document today. What does, rather, is the

astonishingly varied offer of ice-cream flavors (26 in total), namely:



Almond, coconut, chocolate, walnut, peach, Tutti Frutti, coffee, coconut

with almonds, caramel, orange-pineapple, pineapple glace, dairy ice

cream, strawberry, strawberry and assorted fruits, banana, guava,

vanilla, chocolate and assorted nuts, chocolate walnut, mint chocolate,

malt chocolate, vanilla and chocolate chip, mint and chocolate chip,

muscatel, malted cream, crème de vie.



For the longest time now, those of us who frequent Cuba's ice-cream

cathedral have been lucky to be offered two flavors, three at the most.

And, for the most part, what you get is a white-colored ice-cream with

an indescribable flavor, and, less frequently, strawberry and chocolate

– perhaps as the occasional tribute to Tomas Gutierrez Alea's beautiful

film.



Let us go back in time, to the 1966 menu. The mind-boggling offer of 26

ice-cream flavors becomes even more incredible when we read that these

flavors are availble in some 24 different combinations:



Harlequin, Coke and ice-cream, ice-cream float, iced drink, soda,

ice-cream shakes, Coppelia shake, Coppelia Special, chocolate soldier,

Ice-Cream Sun-Rise, Juanillete, Indian Canoe, Lolita, Special Harlequin,

splits, ice-cream salad, Turquoise Special, ice-cream cake, sundae,

Sundae Supreme, Spring Sundae Special, Melba Cup, Three-Bowl.



One of the pages of the menu bears a kindly-worded note which reads:

"All ice-cream combinations which include almond flavors cost an

additional 0.20 pesos" (a reasonable figure, given the cost of living at

the time).



The cheapest specialty of the house was the "Harlequin", which consisted

of a two-flavored scoop of ice-cream. It cost 0.50 Cuban pesos.



The most expensive item on the menu was the ice-cream salad, which, at

the time, consisted of five scoops of ice-cream (chosen from the

parlor's wide selection of cream and fruit flavors), covered with the

appropriate syrup. Today, you get five scoops of the one flavor on the

menu, covered with a bit of melted brown sugar.



Recently, the Cuban news portal Cubasi published an article describing

the experiences of a young journalist who sought to do a piece on the

establishment, titled "Coppelia: The Strange Case of the Hollow

Chocolate Scoops" (Coppelia: El extraño caso de los casquitos de chocolate).



The humorous text published by this official Cuban government website

reports how the journalist was denied permission to film the premises,

and the manner in which employees dispense smaller-than-standard scoops

to save on ice-cream and sell it elsewhere.



By the looks of it, Coppelia has a lot more in store for us (even when

they periodically replace its manager). I am already working on a post

about its gardens and another on how ice-cream is stolen, right beneath

our very noses, in one of the busiest corners of Havana.



Source: "The Decline of Coppelia, Cuba's Largest Ice Cream Parlor" -

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=97816