Food: Argentinean Cuisine

This spring break I took a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina to study business in South America. The program was the first of it's kind for San Diego State and was a great success. Of course, me being me, I was super stoked about the food I'd find a whole hemisphere away and I was definitely not disappointed. Luckily, thanks to my new friend Amanda who forced us to wait to devour our grub until she took pictures of our food I have some good ones to share with you.

Meat
Argentina is all about their beef. In our 10 day trip I literally ate about 10 steaks. You can get a delicious piece of meat, potatoes, and wine for the equivalent of about 15 US dollars, so it was just too good of a deal to pass up.



On our last night we went to a buffet style restaurant that served us up steak, sausage, chicken, brisket, and a huge salad bar. We sat around drinking wine and enjoying all the Argentinean meat we could fit in for our last meal.



Most meat in Argentina is served with a bunch of sauces. The most popular is a chimichurri which is made with a lot of garlic and a ton of other spices. Rubio's has a pretty good chimichurri that you can try in the states or you can try making your own.



Wine
Wine is one of Argentina's biggest exports. The country drinks a ton of it and you can grab a good bottle anywhere. I'm not a big fan of red wine and I like my light and fruity wine coolers so when I tried Clerico I was one happy camper. It's made with fresh fruit, sugar and white wine, and would be a great summer refresher.

Empanandas
Another popular Argentinean food is empanadas. The country has a lot of influence from Spanish and Italian immigrants who are the foundation to the culture. Empandas are made in the classic seasoned beef and chicken, and also offered with ham and cheese, and even a caprese version. There were delicious, flaky, hot and crispy.



Dessert
There is no way to document my food experience and leave out dessert. Dulce de leche is EVERYWHERE in Argentina and made for a delicious soft serve ice cream from, surprisingly the local Burger King, an amazing crepe, and soft cookie sandwiches called alfajores. I was most surprised by a candied pear we were served. I'm not a big pear person and I really don't like cooked fruit but it was crisp and sweet.




I also have a thing about eating McDonald's in other countries, its weird especially since I virtually never eat it here but whatever. I like to visit them and compare the menu items and layouts and stuff. Plus after eating SO much beef I was super thankful for my chicken nuggets and salsa barbacoa (aka bar-b-que sauce). It looks the same as it does in the states but tasted way better :)



Hopefully you've been inspired to look up a couple of Argentinean recipes, or check google for a local Argentinean restaurant. The cuisine offers a great fusion of flavors and cultures and doesn't make anything that's too scary to try.
Enjoy!