Thanks, Mia. Glad to hear it!

Thank you for your perspective, Daniel. When it comes to Argentine cuisine, may cooler heads prevail in the surprisingly heated world of food opinion.

I agree with all of you that the charm of Argentine food is the high quality of its raw material. I agree with you, too, that unlike what the American writer did in one of the photos he posted above, I wouldn’t put pepper or spices in my ravioles either–not my cup of tea, I prefer my ravioles with just a well prepared sauce like tuco, bolognesa or scarparo. But, come on, It’s just his tastes, it’s just the way he likes to eat his food!

I tell you, Argentine food is perfect just the way it is, with its asado, its dairy products, its cereals, fruits, potatoes, tomatoes, meats, pastas, pizzas, locros, empanadas, pastelitos, dulce de leche, tortas, facturas, ice creams, mates, beers, wines, and all the other elements of our cuisine that are a quintessential part of our identity. And so is American food with its hamburgers, Mexican food with its tacos, French food with its creme brulee, Japanese food with its sushi, *insert any country and a typical food*, AND THAT’S THE BEAUTY OF THIS WORLD, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! That any country in this world can have its own culture, and that we can talk about different foods and traditions! That citizens from everywhere can show all the beauties and wonders on the face of the earth!

I still remember the first time I ate a Chinese food, I was still a teenager, so the experience was even more revolutionary to me. I was trying to order something not much different to what I ate before–noodles with meat–and yet, the experience was a completely different thing than what I knew until then. The noodles, they weren’t covered with tomato sauces like tuco, instead they had lots of different vegetables like soy, carrot, squash and green onion! The cow meat wasn’t cooked in a casserole or a grill and served in a big portion on one side of the dish, like I was accustomed with Argentine food, instead the cow meat was stir-fried as it’s typical in Asian cuisines, and teared in thin, narrow portions all over the noodles–suffice to say, this little experience in one Chinese New Year festival was the start of my appetite (literally) for knowing cuisines from other countries!

After that, I started going to immigrant festivals like the “Buenos Aires Celebra” fairs, which are always a good opportunity to know more about other places and peoples, also I started to seek ingredients that previously I seldom used, like nuts, honey, olive oil, fish and green onion (yes, this little Asian ingredient opened a whole different world to me!)

So, in conclusion, to all my fellow Argentines I say: don’t feel offended, it’s a very big world we’re a living in, and there’s a place for everyone’s tastes and opinions. And maybe, they’re right in that eating asado everyday becomes tiresome, who knows, maybe if you start looking for new foods, or the same foods but with a twist (like those Chinese noodles with meat) you will find a new point of view and enrich yourselves with more knowledge of this world.

Like having never listened to country music, and suddenly finding *that song* that gets caught in your head and makes you want to listen to more country songs! 😉 😉 😉

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. I must say, that was the cheapest we got it; in other places it ran almost $1.50, and the price of naptha (gasoline) was higher than many other cities -about 20 cents per litre.
I’m thinking now about the wonderful, greasy 6 cent empanadas we found in Cali, and the matinee
in the afternoon for 12 cents, and we only had to change seats once when the afternoon rains came.

Different times; that was just before Man walked on the moon.

Mike, this is a great story! Thanks for sharing. I’m also smiling at the price of a steak, salad, french fries, drink and ice cream only costing $1.15. While steak in Argentina is still very reasonably priced, especially for its quality, it’s certainly not that cheap!

Hi Irene, thanks so much for the additions and suggestions. We tried dulce de membrillo while traveling in Argentina. Lovely and a different, refined taste experience when compared to dulce de leche (which is more like candy). Pasta frola sounds terrific. I bet it looks beautiful, too.

Thanks again for sharing with us and our readers so they can keep an eye out for it when searching for interesting things to eat in Argentina!

Thanks for pointing this out regarding dulce de leche. Caramelized liquid is perhaps more precise or appropriate. I’ve updated the piece accordingly.

As for pizza, this is where we ate pizza in Buenos Aires:
https://uncorneredmarket.com/buenos-aires-food-restaurants-argentina/

As for the remainder of Argentina, sauce concentration varied. However, pizza across the country struck us as strikingly cheese-focused. In that regard, Argentina is not alone.