In recent months, it has become difficult to find meat and eggs in this communist country due to the decline of the economy. Meanwhile, officials talk about the potential of ostriches - this flightless African bird and hutia, a rodent native to Cuba, which can weigh up to 8.5 kg (19 pounds).

“An ostrich lays 60 eggs, of which you get about 40 chickens, and out of these 40 chickens, only four tons of meat per year - while a cow just gives birth to one calf, and after a year it’s just a one-year-old calf,” said Guillermo Garcia Frias, The 91-year-old “honorary commander of the revolution” and the head of the state-owned company Flora and Fauna.

With this statement, Frias made a round table discussion on state television. In addition, “the protein level in rodent meat is higher than that of any other type of meat” and, in addition, it has a “high-quality skin”.

His comments triggered sarcastic memes and jokes that became viral on social networks, as his diet patterns were periodically introduced in Cuba, and often did not live up to expectations.

Cubans also joked that the state could give them an ostrich for a family, as was the case with chickens during the deep economic depression of the 1990s, after the fall of the former benefactor of the Soviet Union.

Cuba imports 60 to 70 percent of its food due to inefficient centralized planning of the state economy and the effect of the long-standing US trade embargo.

But in addition to this, the country had to reduce imports over the past three years due to a shortage of funds, as a result of problems with its transactions with former and current left allies, in particular, with reduced aid from the Venezuelan crisis-affected.