Demystifying american expats rants

[billsfan]

My experience is based on 5 years living in BA, I don't think yours is based on living 5 years in the USA

I was arguing with argentinian home-made cooking against your idea that restaurants represent what we eat all the time.
My experience about this matter is far greater than yours.

 

[qwerty]

Lol, trust me, I am not happy with the sacred trilogy, that is why I hardly ever order any delivery meals; I am big on very hot and spicy food ( always eat one or two chili peppers with any meat, also sprinkle some on my pizza) but I could not live without my doses of Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Jewish and Italian. On top of this, I get bbq back ribs cravings, and definitely die for any seafood I do not care much for sweet stuff though.

There is basically no seafood in BA and there is plenty in place like Chile and Brasil. Must be because of the really one sided taste of the typical Argentine.

I personally don't like seafood but many people do and if you like it you are basically in the wrong country in BA

 

[qwerty]

I was arguing with argentinian home-made cooking against your idea that restaurants represent what we eat all the time.
My experience about this matter is far greater than yours.

So restaurants don't offer what people want?

 

[AlexfromLA]

lol


who except old people shop at jc penny these days

ahahaha

dude upgrade yourself

Prada, Hugo Boss, D & G

The average argentinian dresses in old jeans and a t shirt, and im sure the average american dresses in something similar when out casually going to the grocery store etc.

There is business attire, formal attire, club attire, casual attire, sport attire etc. If you haven't learned the difference by now, I am guessing you really dont know how to dress.

 

[nikad]

What many expats do not know, because you guys weren´t here yet, is that for example Chinese was unheard of back in the 80s - there were only 2-3 places and they were not good/popular. The Chinese neighborhood in Belgrano didn´t exist. Sushi...( w00t??? ) that was unheard of as well ( I started rolling my own back then ), Middle eastern was only restricted to the local community of descendants, whether you believe it or not, we have gone a long way since then. I am sure there is still room for a lot more, but if you think that McDonalds got here in the mid 80s, a lot of you would have gone really crazy and homesick back then. Plus all of this delivery stuff didn´t exist at all. It was only take away pizza or roasted chicken.

 

[qwerty]

What many expats do not know, because you guys weren´t here yet, is that for example Chinese was unheard of back in the 80s - there were only 2-3 places and they were not good/popular. The Chinese neighborhood in Belgrano didn´t exist. Sushi...( w00t??? ) that was unheard of as well ( I started rolling my own back then ), Middle eastern was only restricted to the local community of descendants, whether you believe it or not, we have gone a long way since then. I am sure there is still room for a lot more, but if you think that McDonalds got here in the mid 80s, a lot of you would have gone really crazy and homesick back then. Plus all of this delivery stuff didn´t exist at all. It was only take away pizza or roasted chicken.

I am not aware of any good Chinese restaurant. Maybe they do exist but the ones I have been to(even in China town) are basically Argentine restaurants that offer Chinese food

 

[nikad]

There is basically no seafood in BA and there is plenty in place like Chile and Brasil. Must be because of the really one sided taste of the typical Argentine.

I personally don't like seafood but many people do and if you like it you are basically in the wrong country in BA

Yes and yes, but I was born here...anyway, every time I travel I get high doses. I must confess that what I like to eat on a daily basis is not what most Argentinians would, I still really like all the typical stuff, parrillada, locro, tamales, empanadas, etc, but only as much as other good things.

 

[nikad]

I am not aware of any good Chinese restaurant. Maybe they do exist but the ones I have been to(even in China town) are basically Argentine restaurants that offer Chinese food

A very decent one for delivery ( not very cheap but good serving sizes ) is Garden on Riobamba, another one is Hong Kong Style that has some dim sum dumplings. I also like to have Shi Yuan´s duck ( comes with all the sauces and pancakes ) on Tagle half block from Las Heras. I hate those Chinese all you can eat horrid dirty places that were a big hype in the 90s, thank God now in extinction. I have heard about Los Chinos in Belgrano on Fco. Lacroze, but haven´t tried them.

 

[LAtoBA]

Again with the "pizza-pasta-asado" thing. I really don't get it. My mother (as well as many other households I've known) have cooked for me with a lot of variety. Granted, restaurants may suck, but don't blame it to the general public.
My mother (still) routinily makes: chucrut (we have no german heritage so excuse the probable typos), shepperds' pie (we are no british), several types of cake (welsh, austrian, etc), fishes (in infinite ways, but granted I like mostly merluza and parana river fishes), kebbe (no arab heritage, just learned it, liked it and made it)... and so on.

I just can't see this being the norm in the "average" Argentine household. But I could be wrong.

What you say is the same as me saying: "americans don't know how to dress up"... only because I come across with people in cargos, long sleeve shirts, long socks and brown leather shoes (that's a popular combination everywhere, tourists or not, so it seems).

I would say your statement is right on the money if you deleted "know how" from your quote. It' true Americans don't tend to dress up as much as their Latin American counterparts if you compare economic class to economic class. But that's different from not knowing how. I would say Americans just choose not to. And yes while it does come across as being sloppy.....it's soooo comfortable!

It should be pointed out there are also regional variations. People in the South tend to dress up more, while people on the west coast are known for being super casual (or sloppy) however you see it.

Also, went shopping for some dress pants... man, only Ralph Lauren's got some decent wool pants... what is it with the microfiber hype??
Was at JC Pennie and others the other day, they looked as if I was some wierdo when asking for wool. Either microfiber or other polyester mixtures only.

In the US, JCPenny's is considered a low-end department store. As far as quality I would say it's maybe one step up from a Walmart or something equally comparable. So I'm not surprised they were looking at you like you were crazy. You were in the wrong kind of department store if you were looking for anything of quality.

Also, it's summer in the US now.......wool is typically a winter thing for us, so that's another reason they could have been eyeballing you rather oddly. Asking for wool in the summer, at least from an American's point of view, is pretty unusual.

 

[billsfan]

So restaurants don't offer what people want?

I'm no restaurant owner, but they probably just play it safe. Hence the food you see in the menu. You can't have all the variety of the world in one place.
I was just saying, I know a lot of argentine people that enjoy different type of food... and they cook it.
But if you feel ok thinking you are some sort of prophet in BA, explaining the locals how life in paradise is... then be my guest.