Disappointed with Food in Argentina

[Ries]

You maybe have many hours to purchase products from various venders the average argentinian does not .have the time . Food selection is very poor in Buenos Aires which now had one of the lowest seafood consumption of the planet and this is with one of the Best fishing zones of the waters of patagonia . Seafood should never be a luxury but a normal food for the worker

eating is sort of important to me.
I am 70.
I have been choosing the better quality foods that I could afford for the whole time.
I also like to cook, although I eat out too.
Food selection is quite good in Buenos Aires, if you look.
And no, it isnt all really expensive.
Organic vegetables, for example, are quite cheap.
Free run eggs are 1/3 US prices.
Meat from quality carnicerias, like Piaf or Corto or Converso, is more expensive than Jumbo, and much cheaper than in the USA.
I cannot speak for europe or australia, dont live there, but compared to the US, its cheaper here for most things, and some things, inexplicably, are very costly.
I avoid those things.
Eat Local.
Imports are expensive.


Argentines dont like seafood. They also dont like spicy food.
The market responds.
There are now restaurants that serve excellent seafood, like RU, for example.
Its here, if both the chef and the customer choose to pay what it costs.
You can certainly eat excellent seafood for less than Don Julio or similar very crowded meat restaurants.

 

[Lanick]

Miami's not the US - it's Little Havana!

For portenos it goes Recoleta, Palermo, Belgrano, zona Norte, Nordelta, Pilar and then Miami!

 

[Ries]

I know a lot of Argentines who dont make much money, and yet, seek out organic food, and eat healthy stuff. Usually not a lot of meat, but vegetables and legumes.
I also know argentines who live on coffee, coca cola, empanadas, and pizza.

 

[perry]

eating is sort of important to me.
I am 70.
I have been choosing the better quality foods that I could afford for the whole time.
I also like to cook, although I eat out too.
Food selection is quite good in Buenos Aires, if you look.
And no, it isnt all really expensive.
Organic vegetables, for example, are quite cheap.
Free run eggs are 1/3 US prices.
Meat from quality carnicerias, like Piaf or Corto or Converso, is more expensive than Jumbo, and much cheaper than in the USA.
I cannot speak for europe or australia, dont live there, but compared to the US, its cheaper here for most things, and some things, inexplicably, are very costly.
I avoid those things.
Eat Local.
Imports are expensive.


Argentines dont like seafood. They also dont like spicy food.
The market responds.
There are now restaurants that serve excellent seafood, like RU, for example.
Its here, if both the chef and the customer choose to pay what it costs.
You can certainly eat excellent seafood for less than Don Julio or similar very crowded meat restaurants.

The reality on the ground is completely different to whar is written here . local produce is much more expensive than foreign productos . for this reason now meat Will be imported from Brazil and it Will be 25 percent cheaper . i'm regards to seafood it's certainly not more cheaper than steak and if You look at sushi prices it's more than double Tokyo prices in Buenos Aires . health food shops in Buenos Aires are closing quicker than any other business due to very high running costs and low consumption

 

[Redpossum]

The reality on the ground is completely different to whar is written here . local produce is much more expensive than foreign productos . for this reason now meat Will be imported from Brazil and it Will be 25 percent cheaper . i'm regards to seafood it's certainly not more cheaper than steak and if You look at sushi prices it's more than double Tokyo prices in Buenos Aires . health food shops in Buenos Aires are closing quicker than any other business due to very high running costs and low consumption

The owner of my local dietetica looks more grim-faced every time I venture in to buy something. He's a hell of a good guy, and I feel really sorry for him, but he voted for Milei, and was loudly enthusiastic about Milei's presidency at the beginning. Now, not so much.

 

[perry]

Oh boy, it's taken me a long time to get used to Argentine food and I went through the full 5 stages of grief regarding the culinary desert that is local cuisine.

Argentineans seems to be obsessed with soft mushy things with no spices. A hard baggette is "pan duro" worthy of feeding only pigeons, and a hard cheese other than reggianito requires hunting. Crispy fries, nope. Crispy bacon...how bout some floppy pancetta instead? A firm hotdog? Nope. But you can have a nice soft empanada, lomito or triple de miga or boiled paste-like hotdog on any corner.

It seems the only thing they like crispy is their carne, which they leave on the parilla of any asado for an hour until it's a hockey puck just in case someone wants it hot. God forbid they eat luke-warm medium rare meat.

I've had near fights at asados calling people out for "making the best asado" while putting "cero onda" in it. Even cracked pepper wrinkles their noses.

The trick is cultivating your own little islands of flavor little by little. There is a tiny fish market in my neighborhood that is run by a Venezuelan woman. Her husband happens to be Mexican and makes tacos on the side for occasional customers. You would never find this on any google search or PedidasYa app. But they are the most authentic tacos in town.

Flavor exists, but they are not in every restaurant.

Argentinos love seafood but do not love the high prices in Buenos Aires for this product . If You are in a fishing zone in patagonia seafood consumption is triple and of course prices and freshness of product are excellent. Chubut has some of the Best fishing grounds of the planet and tierra de fuego has incredíble centolla which people go crazy for Ushuaia

 

[Rich One]

Argentinos love seafood but do not love the high prices in Buenos Aires for this product . If You are in a fishing zone in patagonia seafood consumption is triple and of course prices and freshness of product are excellent. Chubut has some of the Best fishing grounds of the planet and tierra de fuego has incredíble centolla which people go crazy for Ushuaia

The only choice at most restos in BA is Merluza...
I'm pretty sure that the price of Centolla in Ushuaia is not available to most.

125 grs !. of Centolla Parmesana $60,000 at Krunds resto in Ushuaia see link

Menu Online

menu.maxirest.com

 

[Paige55]

The only choice at most restos in BA is Merluza...
I'm pretty sure that the price of Centolla in Ushuaia is not available to most.

125 grs !. of Centolla Parmesana $60,000 at Krunds resto in Ushuaia see link

Menu Online

menu.maxirest.com

I'm a crab fiend and I can tell you, anyplace I've tried to eat crab these past years—I couldn't. It's been way out of my reach. Crab legs in the U.S., astronomical, the last I checked in December (before I came back home). Crab here, much the same. In Chile it might be more accessible? I had it there years ago, in Viña Del Mar. I forget how much it was, but it was split between three of us. I might be able to afford a small bit of snow crab someday, but even that's asking a lot from my bank account. It's really the only seafood I miss, but I always felt it was a bit of a luxury item and not something ever truly accessible to the masses. Even a crab cake at a shoddy joint sets you back far too much for it being stuffed with a large portion of bread crumbs at most places.

 

[sergio]

Isn't that contradictionary to say you want it to be old fashioned and to have greater variety and fresher food?

I wasn't just thinking of food but with respect to food,there was no 'junk food' to speak of decades ago. Just about everything was made from scratch. Businessmen took long lunches (I had a job that gave me a two hour lunch break), families ate together. There wasn't much eating between meals. Now of course many women are in the work force and don't have time to spend shopping and cooking, life styles have changed and these changes therefore require more efficiency.

 

[Vossos]

I'm a crab fiend and I can tell you, anyplace I've tried to eat crab these past years—I couldn't. It's been way out of my reach. Crab legs in the U.S., astronomical, the last I checked in December (before I came back home). Crab here, much the same. In Chile it might be more accessible? I had it there years ago, in Viña Del Mar. I forget how much it was, but it was split between three of us. I might be able to afford a small bit of snow crab someday, but even that's asking a lot from my bank account. It's really the only seafood I miss, but I always felt it was a bit of a luxury item and not something ever truly accessible to the masses. Even a crab cake at a shoddy joint sets you back far too much for it being stuffed with a large portion of bread crumbs at most places.

The crab in Ushuaia is on another level. I had it once as a treat but couldn’t countenance it again at the prices and that was over a year ago. Dread to think what it costs now