A Serious Thread About Food In Argentina

[ElQueso]

Thousands of people who come here used to rave about the beef here (which has dropped significantly in quality over the last 5-6 years), some have raved about other things. Tens of thousands, however, come here and bitch about the food. Outside of asado, I know very few visitors who talk about much more than empanadas or locro as far as local cuisine goes...both of which we make in Texas with more flavor (for the most part - different styles, but same basic concept, at least at the table I used to set)

The Mexican restaurants we have in Texas are not the pits of spice-burn that popular myth would have everyone believe (although Texas chili, yeah). Some spice? Absolutely. But cheeses and sauces as well. Good cheeses and good sauces.

And sushi smelling like a dirty...dude! If you eat sushi that has any smell - don't! And sushi, as WineGuy states, isn't even a big percentage of Japanese cuisine.

Some of the best food I've ever had (that was not, say, pasta, sausage or fish from northeast Italy) was in Singapore. Noodle soup with meat in it. It was incredibly tasty for such a simple meal. But it had flavor...and didn't produce any spice-burn.

Maybe the original reason for using spices was to cover up the flavor of nearly-rotten meat and to preserve foods in a lack of refrigeration (imagine, we sell jerky in stores in the States to snack on! Many different flavors...mmmm), but we're not in the middle ages any more. Pretty much the rest of the world agrees that adding flavor to food, having creamy sauces with taste, etc, is a good thing, seeing as how being human, we are geared to enjoy pleasure that is not coupled with necessity.

I don't mean to insult you Ariel (I swear I don't, and sorry if I do), but it's been my experience (and I've had a lot of different experiences, in a number of different walks of life so to speak, over the last 34 years since I left the roost) that people who go to prestigious universities to become intellectuals don't necessarily expand their minds much farther than the fields of their studies.

And there ain't nothing wrong with cutting vegetables. My current field of expertise is quite technical and mental-skill-oriented (in fact, of the three separate careers I've had, only my first wasn't). Yet I find that when I'm frustrated, there's nothing better than the Zen of cutting vegetables to make a good gumbo. And that takes a LOT of cutting...

 

[nkotb]

Ariel, to be an intellectual you first have to learn how to spell "intellectual." I know picking on people's spelling on the internet is usually a fool's errand, but seriously, proofread your prose before hitting "post" - my eyes are bleeding.

 

[Ries]

I refuse to take the opinions of somebody who has never tried that which he disparages very seriously.

Real authorities on food actually eat and cook the food they talk about.

There is crappy food made in every country, and good food as well.

Everybody is different in their tastes- usually, I am the one defending argentine food- but I have been to Thailand, Japan, and Mexico, and eaten delicious, high quality, gourmet food in all three places, and have cooked some of each cuisine myself, imperfectly as a home chef- and I know that each has some very delicious offerings.

 

[rrptownley]

I recently learnt that 'jerky' is the only Incan (Quechuan) word assimilated into the English language, which is a pretty goddam great contribution to world cuisine in my opinion.

 

[sesamosinsal]

First world problems...

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Nothing wrong with no agrement.
Japanese?the only thing i know is sushi,not my idea of good food,cold rice and raw fish..dont like my food smelling and tasting like an unwashed...well,you get the idea
Mexican?plenty of spices to hide bad or rotten food,i allways think of mexican food like the publicity on tv,guaranteed dhiarrea or you get the money back,haha
Never had thai.

Ha,ha...Sushi you eaten perhaps rotten or half-way to being. From mimicking Jorge's me-too-wanting to get rich-....Sushi joints!
No wonder so many Sushi joints all over central~south america established already and it seems even the food ignorant Latin Americans likes them. If you only known Japanese dish is the Sushi that tells how well versed you are, 30 some years living in the US but you seem not learnt much from living there and or couldn't afford to in eating the many delicious dishes available in the US.

 

[bobsnowpuppy]

My experience with Argentine food started 30 years ago with my first visit. No one could have prepared me for the amount of high fat, fried food eaten here, but until I was 20, my US family was all about meat and potatoes with gravy so I don't see much difference other than about a 30 year time lag in nutritional education. By the second day I insisted on chicken, steamed carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. The whole family thought I was sick and said that this type of food was only served in the hospitals.

I have been coming back about every five years since and although it took a long time, I finally started seeing low fat milk, light sodas, and sugar substitutes. I also notice the family eating lettuce and tomato salads now and fish. I don't see much difference in the home menus otherwise. I made chicken piccata with lemon and capers and chicken marsala on a couple of occasions and all but a couple of the kids loved it and asked for it again when I returned as well as anything else I thought they might like.

Except for visiting me in the US, my Argentine family has not traveled. They always tried new things in the US, but seem content with their meals here. My observation is that their primary diets have existed for generations. Without access to other types of food items/exposure to other cultures, how could they be expected to diversify or explore new tastes? It is easy to be a critic if you have been afforded the luxury of trying other types of foods either through travel, or because your upbringing exposed you. To my mother in law, her diet is not bland, it is simply what she eats. She is however, my most avid guinea pig when it comes to trying my non Argentine recipes.

I don't consider my food here to be bland as I use spices. If I eat out, I accept that I might not get the variety I do in the US, but I live here not there.

 

[bobsnowpuppy]

wrong thread

 

[JoeGillis]

As a global food enthusiast for most of my life (I was fortunate enough to have lived in Europe and Asia during my teens and young adulthood), for most of the past half century (yes, I'm a senior citizen) the three cuisines most often proclaimed as the world's greatest are, alphabetically, Chinese, French and Italian. Although these three cuisines remain at the top of the list, over the past quarter century or so, Indian and Mexican cuisine have been lauded by many world renown chefs and foodies as cuisines of equal greatness. Coincidentally enough, all five cuisines are my favorites.

 

[mc kenna]

This might explain bland........Back in the day a gaucho's only spice for the asado was ash from the fire pit ..no plates no fork no glasses maybe if you were lucky a piece of dried up galleta where to place the beef...... so beef on galleta hold it with your thumb,bite into the beef , cut the beef with your facon....... being off the horse was optional... i guess that over time carried over to the city ,but it doesn't get more traditional than that
You might or might not like it ,but that's the way they've eating here for a looooong time and that's ok with me