Argentina Food and Drink

By Nili Larish

No discussion of Argentina’s cuisine would be accurate if beef wasn’t brought up first.

With more than four percent of the world's cattle raised by Argentine ranchers, it’s no surprise that Argentina’s grass-fed beef is world-renowned and nationally consumed. Argentina has the highest meat consumption rate in the world, with an average of 150 pounds eaten per capita annually!

With so much beef around, it’s easy to find it prepared in a variety of ways everywhere you go. It can be asado (barbequed), a la parilla or churrasco (grilled), carbonada (stewed with potatoes and vegetables), or milanesa (breaded and fried) and usually comes with chimichurri sauce and potatoes on the side. No matter how you like your beef, in Argentina carnivores are guaranteed to get their bang for their buck. If you’ve had enough of the Gaucho diet (Gauchos are Argentine cowboys that allegedly eat beef three times a day,) this large and diverse country offers dishes for every palate.

Unlike most of its Latin American counterparts, Argentine food has strayed far from its pre-Hispanic roots and has very strong Italian, French and Spanish influences. With the arrival of Spanish settlers in the 16th century and nearly one million more immigrants from Europe in the 19th century, Argentine food has a uniquely international flavor.

Italian dishes that can be found everywhere in Argentina include pizza, pasta, ravioli, and cannelloni. Delicious Italian-style ice-cream is also quite common and with dozens of flavors to choose from in every heladeria, this treat is sure to satisfy a serious sweet tooth.

Many desserts have their roots in Spain, such as churros (fried-dough pastries), flan (a custard similar to crème caramel), and the ever-popular Alfajores cookies (sandwich cookies filled with dulce de leche - creamy caramelized milk syrup.)

As the second largest country in South America, regional differences in Argentina offer varied culinary delights. Argentina’s central region, with Buenos Aires as its star, is a major area for meat and dairy production. Here you commonly find dulce de leche and other dairy treats, as well as, of course, beef dishes to your heart’s desire.

As the culinary epicenter of the country, Buenos Aires offers a diverse range of high quality food at a great value. Aside from wonderful Parilladas (grilled meat restaurants) that are paradise for meat-lovers (a particularly good one is called Desnivel) there is a diverse selection of Italian, French, Mediterranean, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and yes, even the occasional vegetarian restaurant to choose from.

The cities of Argentina’s northwest, including Salta, Jujuy, Tucuman and Catamarca showcase pre-Hispanic ingredients and cuisine that are significantly less available in other parts of the country. Staple ingredients of traditionally Latin dishes such as quinoa, beans, chili peppers and avocadoes all grow readily in this region. Traditional Indian dishes like locro (a stew of sausage, corn, and other vegetables), tamales (steamed cornmeal dough filled with meat or cheese) and humitas (fresh ground corn cooked in its husk) are common here. Salta’s empanadas, fried or baked pastries filled with meat, are considered the tastiest in the country. Salta is also home to Torrontés, the best quality white grapes of Argentina, used to make great wine.

South of Salta but northwest of Buenos Aires is Mendoza and the surrounding wine country. Arguably Argentina’s most popular red wine, Malbec has put Argentine wine on the global map. While the Malbec grape has difficulty growing in France, it thrives in Argentina’s sunny climate, and the best quality Malbec can be found in the Mendoza region. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay are also produced in Mendoza and other wine regions in Argentina. Visiting a couple of wineries (bodegas) in the area is a great way to take in the beautiful surrounding scenery while sampling wines of international quality and value.

The northeast region, with Corrientes as its main city, is also an important region for Argentina’s culture and cuisine as it provides the national non-alcoholic drink, Yerba Mate, to the rest of the country and neighboring ones. Mate is a very popular bitter tea drank out of a small wooden gourd, also called mate, with a metal bombilla, a spoon that doubles as a straw. Mate is typically shared by passing the gourd around among friends, making it a social activity and also somewhat of a ritual. If you spend even a small amount of time in Argentina, you are sure to come across groups of friend drinking this tea out of often beautifully crafted gourds, and should you be offered some Mate, it is considered rude if you refuse it. Carrying around your own Mate, then, is also a great way to meet people, as it is a drink meant for sharing and is good for breaking the ice.

Anyone who is serious about chocolate will fall in love with Bariloche, whose streets are lined with colorful chocolate shops and fondue restaurants. Thanks to central European immigration, Bariloche is like a Swiss town in the heart of Argentina’s Lake District, and you can easily spend an entire day puttering around town and sampling an obscene amount of sweets from its large selection of tempting shops.

Even the southern territory of Patagonia, whose gorgeous but sometimes desolate landscape does not suggest culinary delights, has dishes that add to the rich texture of the country’s national cuisine. Like the rest of Argentina, here you will find food with strong Italian and Spanish influences. However, populated by Welsh settlers seeking autonomy from the British in 1865, the traditionally Welsh province of Chubut has also preserved some dishes worth a try. Particularly popular is the Torta Galesa, a cake made with raisins and brown sugar. Welsh tearooms are a specialty of Patagonia, offering affordable tea services that include black tea, cakes, breads, scones, jams, and finger sandwiches. Tour groups coming from Puerto Madryn often stop at these tea-houses after going to Punto Tombo, the largest penguin colony in South America.

Generally, Argentine breakfasts are small meals of medialunas (croissants,) jam and coffee. A cortado is coffee with a little bit of milk, cafe con leche, as the name suggests, has more milk in it, and a cafe chico is usually a small cup of thick coffee.

Midday lunch is a considerably larger meal, often with pastas or meats as main courses. Just about every restaurant prepares fresh juices, licuados, blended with water or milk. Businesses in many cities across the country close for lunch, as people go home to eat a long meal with their families.

In the late afternoon, Argentines have a snack or sandwich to keep their hunger at bay until dinner, which is typically not eaten before 9 or 10 pm, especially during the hotter months. Popular sandwiches include the Sanwhich de Miga, a double-layered sandwich made from thin white bread, no crust, and filled with eggs, cheese, ham, sometimes vegetables, and mayonnaise; the Lomito, sliced steak in a bun; and the Choripan, which is sausage on bread. This tea time tradition can be traced back to the 1800s, when British immigrants arrived in Argentina.

Dinner takes place quite late, and many restaurants in Argentina stay open and packed past midnight. Argentines in general and Porteños in particular (residents of Buenos Aires) are night owls, and it’s common to eat late and go out even later, only to wake up a couple of hours later for a small breakfast and a long day of work.

Asados, or large barbeques, are an Argentine weekend tradition, with extended families getting together over meat, wine and Quilmes, the national beer, to catch up, bond, and relax.