14 Food Reasons Argentines Are Better At Life
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ajoknoblauch
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Anecdotal evidence is untrustworthy, but my mother-in-law died from breast cancer. The best-known Argentine cancer fatality would, of course, be Evita, but you can see other celebrity deaths at http://en.wikipedia....hs_in_Argentina
If you believe public health stats from the lying Pirates, the US is in sixth place worldwide, the Argentines 49th: http://www.wcrf-uk.o...cs_overall.php. On the other hand, according to the Shameless Imperialists, cancer is Argentina's second-leading cause of death: http://www.cancer.go.../crn/argentina.
I don't dislike the food in Argentina. I actually like some things such as Milanesas al Horno but I refuse to eat any that have been fried which is the norm. I also enjoy having a plain chicken breast without any exotic additions. Empanadas from Los Maestros are tasty. Plain mashed sweet potatoes are something I can not get anywhere else so I enjoy being able to order them in parrillas. Actually one of the things that upsets me is that these PLAIN dishes, especially the beef, are not as good as they were years ago. As for the rest....
Pasta: generally not very good. COmpared to Italy, pathetic. There are a few decent Italian restaurants though but I haven't found many.
Beef: Really has gone down. You have to pay a LOT nowadays to get a good steak. I can get better beef in the US.
Coffee: Low quality. It's almost always toasted with sugar to disguise the low quality. I like espresso which you can't get in BA. A 'cafecito" is just bitter regular coffee.
Medialunas: Invariably BAD BAD BAD. Must be made with lard. Few places use butter. Usually hard as rocks.
Chocolate: low quality unless you go to some expensive specialty shops.
Bread: Usually poor quality.
Cheese: Almost always bad and very little variety.
Pizza: Tragic compared to Italy.
Having said all these negatives, with effort you can find exceptions here and there but it takes a lot of work. In Italy you just walk down the street and can find a good or GREAT meal in almost ANY restaurant. I don't know what has happened to all the people of Italian descent. They have just lost the knack -- part of it is poor quality ingredients but part is lack of skill.
Pasta: generally not very good. COmpared to Italy, pathetic. There are a few decent Italian restaurants though but I haven't found many.
Beef: Really has gone down. You have to pay a LOT nowadays to get a good steak. I can get better beef in the US.
Coffee: Low quality. It's almost always toasted with sugar to disguise the low quality. I like espresso which you can't get in BA. A 'cafecito" is just bitter regular coffee.
Medialunas: Invariably BAD BAD BAD. Must be made with lard. Few places use butter. Usually hard as rocks.
Chocolate: low quality unless you go to some expensive specialty shops.
Bread: Usually poor quality.
Cheese: Almost always bad and very little variety.
Pizza: Tragic compared to Italy.
Having said all these negatives, with effort you can find exceptions here and there but it takes a lot of work. In Italy you just walk down the street and can find a good or GREAT meal in almost ANY restaurant. I don't know what has happened to all the people of Italian descent. They have just lost the knack -- part of it is poor quality ingredients but part is lack of skill.
To the original poster - I'm not criticizing you with the following, but rather the article itself. Don't take it the wrong way 
I've never been very impressed with the Huffington Post. Seems to me a lot of opinions without being backed up by too much fact.
For instance, their comment about "some of the best beef in world" is a concept that may be a bit out of date at this point, I believe. It reminds me of the Argentine star (can't remember his name) who is touting for Avericar in the movie theater commercials nowadays - "ya lo saben que tenemos las mejores carnes..." (paraphrased).
Unfortunately, a lot of people don't seem to remember how really, really good the beef was here some 4-6 years ago (and before, of course), and how quickly downhill it's gone as the Argentine government loaded up the beef export industry with so many tax burdens that the majority decided to switch to soy production, which is much easier to grow, has a greater commodities market, etc. Which of course, led to the downfall of a great industry here in Argentina as Argentina started importing beef from other places, such as Paraguay (leading to a huge rise in beef prices for the poor in Paraguay, BTW). It also led to many of the remaining beef producers in Argentina to go to "new-fangled" production methods and feed the cows corn and other such, in place of free-range feeding, in an attempt to be more efficient. I've gotten to where I've switched almost entirely to pork and chicken when I go out to eat because of the consistent disappointment of cuts such as Lomo and Bife de Chorizo and Ojo de Bife served in most restaurants. you can't even be certain of getting a good cut of beef in an expensive restaurant in Puerto Madero - one of the biggest, most famous (and most expensive) beef places thee, I went to about 6 months ago, paid something like 300 pesos for an Ojo de Bife and got a grissle-ridden chunk of meat for my money. Oh, you can still get a good cut from time-to-time and place-to-place, but it's a very hit-or-miss proposition in my opinion.
As for the pasta - I have to admit, most of the pasta they serve here is not bad and even good at times, though I don't think it comes close to stacking up to places like Bologna, Ravenna, Venice or even Rome in Italy (places I know something about personally and have eaten some spectacular pastas there) as far as pasta itself goes; but the sauces that are common here, outside of a very few places, are quite poor in my opinion. Could be that someone likes the sauces here, but no one can tell me convincingly that Buenos Aires, at least, has "Italian grandmother" level sauces - which to me are at least as important, if not more so, than the pasta itself when consuming.
As to submarinos - well, I suppose that must be a matter of taste. Personally, I much prefer a hot chocolate made from Nestle's Quick (which I don't really like all that much) simply because the few submarinos I've had here came with waxy chocolate which was not very tasty and didn't melt very well, leaving little chunks of waxy chocolate in the drink.
I think the milenesa provided here rarely, rarely looks like was presented in the photo, although I've had some that are not bad. Biggest complaint I have against milenesa here is that apparently the cooks must be very frustrated and pound the meat with their hands to the point where it's a thin paper-sheet of meat that gets overcooked and has the consistency of fried shoe leather inside what is often a relatively hard shell of over-fried bread crumbs. I have to say that I've had a number of good milenesas at Club de Milenesas, but they don't come close to stacking up to the taste and flavor of what I'm used to from Texas with chicken fried steaks and a good cream gravy (the two of which I can make that even Argentinos I know have come asking me to fix dinner instead of going out to have milenesa - once they get over the relatively little bit of black pepper I put in the flour and the gravy...).
I won't go into the rest of it. I've learned to survive here on what I, personally (as well as almost all of my expat friends), consider to be not-very-tasty food (or, what's tasty, simply being tired of eating the same thing because of lack of choices) by finding the places that have good parilleros and know how to grill a piece of matambre de cerdo (for example) so it comes out perfectly singed (particularly the fat on the outside!) but still juicy in the middle and not pink and a good flavor of olive oil and smoke mixed together on the outside (di Carlos, Marcelo T de Alvear near the corner of Montevideo). Or ask El Cuartito to put their pepperonis on TOP of the cheese before they cook it instead of burying them under the cheese where the oil doesn't get a chance to mix with the rest of the pizza (although their crust has been getting soggy lately instead of nice and crispy on the bottom). Or, learning to be a good cook myself, experimenting with various recipes and the available spices and other such things that are available here for when I need something that I just can't get here at all.
Food isn't the most important thing in life, that's for sure, but it can be important, particularly when one has moved from what one is used to, to another world. Most of what the HP article referred to could indeed by chalked up to personal taste, but the "some of the best beef in the world" comment made me want to comment on the article, wondering if the person who wrote it had spent any time in Argentina recently or maybe has just seen the Argentine star who touts for Avericar say so.
As far as Argentinos being better at life - I would say they do some things better than we in the US do, it's one of the the reasons I chose to continue to live down here after my original business folded up, but I would NOT want to live here if I was earning money in pesos at a level that most here do so. I question how many people know people at all levels of society here when they make the statement that Argentinos are better at life. It's easy to happy with life, polite, helpful, when you are flush with money but I know too many people on the middle and lower rungs of society who would beg to disagree with that statement.
I've never been very impressed with the Huffington Post. Seems to me a lot of opinions without being backed up by too much fact.
For instance, their comment about "some of the best beef in world" is a concept that may be a bit out of date at this point, I believe. It reminds me of the Argentine star (can't remember his name) who is touting for Avericar in the movie theater commercials nowadays - "ya lo saben que tenemos las mejores carnes..." (paraphrased).
Unfortunately, a lot of people don't seem to remember how really, really good the beef was here some 4-6 years ago (and before, of course), and how quickly downhill it's gone as the Argentine government loaded up the beef export industry with so many tax burdens that the majority decided to switch to soy production, which is much easier to grow, has a greater commodities market, etc. Which of course, led to the downfall of a great industry here in Argentina as Argentina started importing beef from other places, such as Paraguay (leading to a huge rise in beef prices for the poor in Paraguay, BTW). It also led to many of the remaining beef producers in Argentina to go to "new-fangled" production methods and feed the cows corn and other such, in place of free-range feeding, in an attempt to be more efficient. I've gotten to where I've switched almost entirely to pork and chicken when I go out to eat because of the consistent disappointment of cuts such as Lomo and Bife de Chorizo and Ojo de Bife served in most restaurants. you can't even be certain of getting a good cut of beef in an expensive restaurant in Puerto Madero - one of the biggest, most famous (and most expensive) beef places thee, I went to about 6 months ago, paid something like 300 pesos for an Ojo de Bife and got a grissle-ridden chunk of meat for my money. Oh, you can still get a good cut from time-to-time and place-to-place, but it's a very hit-or-miss proposition in my opinion.
As for the pasta - I have to admit, most of the pasta they serve here is not bad and even good at times, though I don't think it comes close to stacking up to places like Bologna, Ravenna, Venice or even Rome in Italy (places I know something about personally and have eaten some spectacular pastas there) as far as pasta itself goes; but the sauces that are common here, outside of a very few places, are quite poor in my opinion. Could be that someone likes the sauces here, but no one can tell me convincingly that Buenos Aires, at least, has "Italian grandmother" level sauces - which to me are at least as important, if not more so, than the pasta itself when consuming.
As to submarinos - well, I suppose that must be a matter of taste. Personally, I much prefer a hot chocolate made from Nestle's Quick (which I don't really like all that much) simply because the few submarinos I've had here came with waxy chocolate which was not very tasty and didn't melt very well, leaving little chunks of waxy chocolate in the drink.
I think the milenesa provided here rarely, rarely looks like was presented in the photo, although I've had some that are not bad. Biggest complaint I have against milenesa here is that apparently the cooks must be very frustrated and pound the meat with their hands to the point where it's a thin paper-sheet of meat that gets overcooked and has the consistency of fried shoe leather inside what is often a relatively hard shell of over-fried bread crumbs. I have to say that I've had a number of good milenesas at Club de Milenesas, but they don't come close to stacking up to the taste and flavor of what I'm used to from Texas with chicken fried steaks and a good cream gravy (the two of which I can make that even Argentinos I know have come asking me to fix dinner instead of going out to have milenesa - once they get over the relatively little bit of black pepper I put in the flour and the gravy...).
I won't go into the rest of it. I've learned to survive here on what I, personally (as well as almost all of my expat friends), consider to be not-very-tasty food (or, what's tasty, simply being tired of eating the same thing because of lack of choices) by finding the places that have good parilleros and know how to grill a piece of matambre de cerdo (for example) so it comes out perfectly singed (particularly the fat on the outside!) but still juicy in the middle and not pink and a good flavor of olive oil and smoke mixed together on the outside (di Carlos, Marcelo T de Alvear near the corner of Montevideo). Or ask El Cuartito to put their pepperonis on TOP of the cheese before they cook it instead of burying them under the cheese where the oil doesn't get a chance to mix with the rest of the pizza (although their crust has been getting soggy lately instead of nice and crispy on the bottom). Or, learning to be a good cook myself, experimenting with various recipes and the available spices and other such things that are available here for when I need something that I just can't get here at all.
Food isn't the most important thing in life, that's for sure, but it can be important, particularly when one has moved from what one is used to, to another world. Most of what the HP article referred to could indeed by chalked up to personal taste, but the "some of the best beef in the world" comment made me want to comment on the article, wondering if the person who wrote it had spent any time in Argentina recently or maybe has just seen the Argentine star who touts for Avericar say so.
As far as Argentinos being better at life - I would say they do some things better than we in the US do, it's one of the the reasons I chose to continue to live down here after my original business folded up, but I would NOT want to live here if I was earning money in pesos at a level that most here do so. I question how many people know people at all levels of society here when they make the statement that Argentinos are better at life. It's easy to happy with life, polite, helpful, when you are flush with money but I know too many people on the middle and lower rungs of society who would beg to disagree with that statement.
scotttswan
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Argentina has some great lamb and goat dishes served down south, but for some reason you have to pay through the nose for either of the two up here.
Maybe if those "Open Veins of Latin America" were still running from patagonia they'd have some decent refrigerated rail-freight transporting tonnes of meat for export and a little could be sold in the local market.
For all the talk about their Irish ancestry i have to ask where the fuck the Irish stews disappeared to!
Maybe if those "Open Veins of Latin America" were still running from patagonia they'd have some decent refrigerated rail-freight transporting tonnes of meat for export and a little could be sold in the local market.
For all the talk about their Irish ancestry i have to ask where the fuck the Irish stews disappeared to!
ajoknoblauch
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You can get chivito in Córdoba. Meanwhile, as far as Irish stews go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47bKTtIwrO4
Ah and about the comment made earlier about a possible lack of cancer here - a good friend of mine's sister died of leukemia three days ago after only about two months from diagnosis to death. Another friend's wife had ovarian cancer that was "successfully" removed. The only person in the States I know who died of cancer is my step-grandfather (30 years ago), and my father has prostate cancer that is being treated successfully.
As mentioned in response above, anecdotal evidence doesn't seem too solid in cancer issues. On top of that, the treatment my father's going through doesn't seem to be available down here. I wonder what the survival rate of people with cancer is here? Of course, I wouldn't trust any number that comes out of an official organization here either.
As mentioned in response above, anecdotal evidence doesn't seem too solid in cancer issues. On top of that, the treatment my father's going through doesn't seem to be available down here. I wonder what the survival rate of people with cancer is here? Of course, I wouldn't trust any number that comes out of an official organization here either.
I can only add that ive seen so many employees lose parents to cancer, some both that i stopped taking note and sending condolence cards on the anniversary of the death. Our average employee age is now 30 but has for the most part been from 27 to 30. I have a single friend at that age in Europe who had lost a parent to cancer so the recurring family deaths for our employees really shocked me inc skin cancer, mouth and tongue, bowel in particular. Purely anecdotal but something that made me sit up and question the coca cola meat and pastry eating diet smokers or no.
ARbound
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I saw this and it confirmed my belief that the Huffington Post is getting lower and lower in terms of journalistic quality.
All food is pumped full of chemicals, GMOs or hormones.
The writer has never had real pasta. Of course the pasta I had in Italy was better, but so is pasta from the states. I find Argentine pasta over cooked, stale and bland.
Haven't had the hot chocolate yet.
Milanesas are OK. I will eat them if there isn't anything better.
I don't like any of the paistries but to be fair I never enjoyed crosants either.
I don't care for Mate.
If dulce de leche could go away that would be great. It's in everything...
Prefer american or German sausage.
I only like cheese and onion empanadas.
I only like chicken asado.
Some alfajores are OK. Only the ones without dulce de leche.
Fernet isn't Italian. My Italian friends that have heard of it find it disgusting like me.
Also, seriously, am I the only one who likes Fugazetta?
All food is pumped full of chemicals, GMOs or hormones.
The writer has never had real pasta. Of course the pasta I had in Italy was better, but so is pasta from the states. I find Argentine pasta over cooked, stale and bland.
Haven't had the hot chocolate yet.
Milanesas are OK. I will eat them if there isn't anything better.
I don't like any of the paistries but to be fair I never enjoyed crosants either.
I don't care for Mate.
If dulce de leche could go away that would be great. It's in everything...
Prefer american or German sausage.
I only like cheese and onion empanadas.
I only like chicken asado.
Some alfajores are OK. Only the ones without dulce de leche.
Fernet isn't Italian. My Italian friends that have heard of it find it disgusting like me.
Also, seriously, am I the only one who likes Fugazetta?
ajoknoblauch
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I love fugazetta (in limited quantities).
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