Disappointed with Food in Argentina

[daveholman]

I was merely echoing what you told me. This is your interpretation and expectation, bland is a far cry from 'highly seasoned and spicy'. Horses for courses mate, get out of the cities/towns and experience the real UK. Smoke mackerel salads, minted Welsh rabbit and whole host of rich flavours that are on offer.

*rarebit. Have you ever actually been to the UK?

And I love how you haven't paid attention to a word I've written.

 

[Vossos]

*rarebit. Have you ever actually been to the UK?

And I love how you haven't paid attention to a word I've written.

Rarebit could easily be autocorrected to rabbit. I’ll add an addendum to my original post of the only traditional British food I indulge in to be a Sunday roast. Of course a full English is without question but let’s add rarebit and cawl to the mix.

Also, without question there’s plenty of crap restaurants and pubs in the UK but there’s also plenty of fantastic ones

 

[Vossos]

Arguably there’s very little food in Europe that‘s “highly seasoned” to the level of what you get in the States.

I couldn’t disagree with this more. In my experience, food quality in Europe far supersedes the US

 

[Stantucker]

I couldn’t disagree with this more. In my experience, food quality in Europe far supersedes the US

This discussion is not about food quality.

 

[Jimbob]

*rarebit. Have you ever actually been to the UK?

And I love how you haven't paid attention to a word I've written.

What are you talking about? I'm from the UK. I meant Welsh lamb actually but my autopilot obviously got the better of me.

Awww, how cute. Your expectations weren't met again so now you're getting salty. You throw forward generic unimaginative experiences, propped up by vague points of supposed enlightenment. 60 days and all you ate was pie, breakfast and fish & chips covered in brown sauce and vinegar, bravo! I'll bow out to your vastly superior knowledge about my homeland winner.

 

[mikic007]

For most of people their background defines what they like. I generally like Argentinian food, being a simple guy with simple taste. Doesn't mean I didn't try some good stuff from all around the earth, but those don't define my taste. Now, my former colleague from Taiwan, he opened my eyes a bit, complaining endlessly about zero flavour here. At first I was argue a bit, like sure isn't that bad, try these, try that. Until I tried stuff he was preparing for himself at home... No, you can't get normally that kind of stuff here. It's just a bad match, no way around that.

And since usa has it all, I guess for some Argentinian cousine will not be satisfying. Like it won't be Italian, Spanish or most others. Variety is just not a thing here, and not only in the kitchen. Now, calling it bad maybe isn't correct, it's just not for you. I know how some Argentinians are craving for simple peace of meat in gourmet hegemons around the world. It's funny, but it's how it is...

 

[Redpossum]

For most of people their background defines what they like. I generally like Argentinian food, being a simple guy with simple taste. Doesn't mean I didn't try some good stuff from all around the earth, but those don't define my taste. Now, my former colleague from Taiwan, he opened my eyes a bit, complaining endlessly about zero flavour here. At first I was argue a bit, like sure isn't that bad, try these, try that. Until I tried stuff he was preparing for himself at home... No, you can't get normally that kind of stuff here. It's just a bad match, no way around that.

And since usa has it all, I guess for some Argentinian cousine will not be satisfying. Like it won't be Italian, Spanish or most others. Variety is just not a thing here, and not only in the kitchen. Now, calling it bad maybe isn't correct, it's just not for you. I know how some Argentinians are craving for simple peace of meat in gourmet hegemons around the world. It's funny, but it's how it is...

I think there's a lot of truth in that. The two cuisines I grew up with were American Midwestern (meat and potatoes and two vegetables), and Mexican food, (refried beans, Spanish rice, tortillas, carne asada, carnitas, pozole, menudo, chiles rellenos, etc). The former, courtesy of my father's side of the family from Kansas and Missouri, means I am OK with much of the Argentine standards, which also seem to revolve around meat & potatoes.

But authentic, affordable Mexican food is just unobtainium here. When you do find Mexican food here, it's treated as something exotic and you have to pay a bloody fortune for it. In San Diego, Mexican food is dirt cheap, and everywhere. I'm not going to pay 8 dollars for a damned bean burrito.

 

[Jimbob]

For most of people their background defines what they like. I generally like Argentinian food, being a simple guy with simple taste. Doesn't mean I didn't try some good stuff from all around the earth, but those don't define my taste. Now, my former colleague from Taiwan, he opened my eyes a bit, complaining endlessly about zero flavour here. At first I was argue a bit, like sure isn't that bad, try these, try that. Until I tried stuff he was preparing for himself at home... No, you can't get normally that kind of stuff here. It's just a bad match, no way around that.

And since usa has it all, I guess for some Argentinian cousine will not be satisfying. Like it won't be Italian, Spanish or most others. Variety is just not a thing here, and not only in the kitchen. Now, calling it bad maybe isn't correct, it's just not for you. I know how some Argentinians are craving for simple peace of meat in gourmet hegemons around the world. It's funny, but it's how it is...

Hit the nail on the head and what I alluded to with expectations. Also if you eat a lot of rich foods subtle flavours can become lost, I realised this when I went a time without refined sugar and an apple that was once slightly sweet in comparison suddenly became overly sweet. Hopefully as the markets here open up and things like 25k for a bottle of tabasco sauce becomes a thing of the past we'll see more options and variety in the Argentine palette, such as you get in the UK/US respectively.

 

[daveholman]

I think there's a lot of truth in that. The two cuisines I grew up with were American Midwestern (meat and potatoes and two vegetables), and Mexican food, (refried beans, Spanish rice, tortillas, carne asada, carnitas, pozole, menudo, chiles rellenos, etc). The former, courtesy of my father's side of the family from Kansas and Missouri, means I am OK with much of the Argentine standards, which also seem to revolve around meat & potatoes.

But authentic, affordable Mexican food is just unobtainium here. When you do find Mexican food here, it's treated as something exotic and you have to pay a bloody fortune for it. In San Diego, Mexican food is dirt cheap, and everywhere. I'm not going to pay 8 dollars for a damned bean burrito.

Ditto where I lived in So Cal...and not just Mexican, but Salvadoran and Peruvian. Also, not just Chinese, but Japanese, Korean, Thai and Indian. And of course, Italian, Greek, Lebanese and Moroccan. And generally all those ethnic restaurants were immigrant owned family operations, so they were reasonably priced. And for home cooking, I had a Mexican market as well as an Asian market to find exotic foods and spices.

You know what I never found? An English restaurant.

 

[jewing]

I grew up in a restaurant, and I'm all for home cooking. It is definitely less expensive. As far as spices, I am making it one of my missions to find them. There have to be some Asian/Indian/Middle Eastern/Mexican markets tucked away somewhere in a city of 12 million people. lol

The New Garden chain has lots decent spices.