Girino
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- Jan 1, 2014
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DISCLAIMER: This doesn't intend to be the usual rant & complain thread about food. I would like to hear from people who actually tried to understand why the Argentinian food is like it is, being it a "young" country, and land who was colonized just recently.
The below observations come from my limited circle of Argentinians and what I noticed the Argentinian mothers buy in supermarkets and don't pretend to be the only and one truth about this subject.
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Infantile. This is the word i would use to describe food in Argentina. The most popular dishes are unhealthy or unbalanced, the kind of mix in Italy we use to encourage spoiled and grumpy kids to eat.
For example, an Italian mother would encourage his children to eat fish by buying them fish burger or similar, which is fried fish with a crust (sort of fish & chips).
Or to eat meat buying cordon bleau. Both can be baked instead of fried, in a effort to keep them lighter, but they are used to lure children into eating something with fish or meat.
Pizza, in Italy is considered a treat and eaten no more than once per week, as it is a fat food. Often it is ordered when there is no time for cooking, for example if the family returned home late or if the mother wants to take a break from the kitchen for a day.
The same is valid for ice cream, another treat. Not many people have dessert after every meal, they are usually bought industrial and used as snacks (such as flan, chocolate creams, etc.)
As you can see, I am talking about everyday meals, in families where the mother is working, as well. The most elaborate dishes are usually reserved for the weekend or special occasions, since they require more time. Argentina has more elaborate dishes, as well (matabre, locro, etc.), but they are not part of everyday life, although here in Argentina ready-to-eat food is cheaper and more widely available than in Italy.
I also noticed that here they tend to make their basic dishes "childish" by frying and by adding melted cheese everywhere, even on top of a fried milanesa, or by putting french fries on the side, on the pancho, etc.
Finally, I see that many people just have one meal per day, being it very heavy (Argentinian pizza, empanadas and milanesa are HEAVY food). Then they drink mate or tea and eat medialunas to fill up their stomach. But medialunas are made with grease or butter, so they are fat as well. Or they have a coffee with a slice of cake, which 90% of the times contain dulce de leche, which is basically pure sugar!
Overall, it looks like a very unbalanced diet to me.
But WHY IS SO?
Was there an effort behind this, to accomodate the basic dishes to many tastes (indios, europeans, asians) and to reduce the number of ingredients?
Or to ensure a larger demand of certain ingredients that were cheap or by-products? I am thinking about the cheeses they have here (gruyere, parmesan, fondue), which are often melted cheese, where it is easier to mix up lower quality milk and ingredients.
Was there a massification scheme that aimed to make the most popular food, the food which is easily and cheaply reproducible at an industrial level?
If you have scratched the surface of the topic "food in Argentina", please share your thoughts!
The below observations come from my limited circle of Argentinians and what I noticed the Argentinian mothers buy in supermarkets and don't pretend to be the only and one truth about this subject.
-------
Infantile. This is the word i would use to describe food in Argentina. The most popular dishes are unhealthy or unbalanced, the kind of mix in Italy we use to encourage spoiled and grumpy kids to eat.
For example, an Italian mother would encourage his children to eat fish by buying them fish burger or similar, which is fried fish with a crust (sort of fish & chips).
Or to eat meat buying cordon bleau. Both can be baked instead of fried, in a effort to keep them lighter, but they are used to lure children into eating something with fish or meat.
Pizza, in Italy is considered a treat and eaten no more than once per week, as it is a fat food. Often it is ordered when there is no time for cooking, for example if the family returned home late or if the mother wants to take a break from the kitchen for a day.
The same is valid for ice cream, another treat. Not many people have dessert after every meal, they are usually bought industrial and used as snacks (such as flan, chocolate creams, etc.)
As you can see, I am talking about everyday meals, in families where the mother is working, as well. The most elaborate dishes are usually reserved for the weekend or special occasions, since they require more time. Argentina has more elaborate dishes, as well (matabre, locro, etc.), but they are not part of everyday life, although here in Argentina ready-to-eat food is cheaper and more widely available than in Italy.
I also noticed that here they tend to make their basic dishes "childish" by frying and by adding melted cheese everywhere, even on top of a fried milanesa, or by putting french fries on the side, on the pancho, etc.
Finally, I see that many people just have one meal per day, being it very heavy (Argentinian pizza, empanadas and milanesa are HEAVY food). Then they drink mate or tea and eat medialunas to fill up their stomach. But medialunas are made with grease or butter, so they are fat as well. Or they have a coffee with a slice of cake, which 90% of the times contain dulce de leche, which is basically pure sugar!
Overall, it looks like a very unbalanced diet to me.
But WHY IS SO?
Was there an effort behind this, to accomodate the basic dishes to many tastes (indios, europeans, asians) and to reduce the number of ingredients?
Or to ensure a larger demand of certain ingredients that were cheap or by-products? I am thinking about the cheeses they have here (gruyere, parmesan, fondue), which are often melted cheese, where it is easier to mix up lower quality milk and ingredients.
Was there a massification scheme that aimed to make the most popular food, the food which is easily and cheaply reproducible at an industrial level?
If you have scratched the surface of the topic "food in Argentina", please share your thoughts!
