Meat dearer in Argentina than New York

[Philsword]

There are literally hundreds of grades of ground beef in the US. You can buy really cheap, bad, high fat ground beef for 1.99 per pound and good, lean ground beef can easily cost 5.99 per pound (good butcher, 94% lean). Theres prime, choice, select and dog food. Within each category there are different percentages of fat you can buy.

Those of us who constantly travel between the States and AR can call BS when we see it. We spend waaaay less for good beef in AR than for good quality beef in the US. Top cuts like lomo and Porterhouse (forget the Argentine word), are less than half the price in AR.

And meat in the US is not trimmed the way it is in AR, you often pay for a lot of fat. And the service in AR is far better. Yesterday I asked a supermarket butcher to grind some pork fresh for me. He looked at me like I was crazy although he ended up doing it. At the markets in BA, the pork vendor is happy to grind the pork I buy from him along with the beef I buy from another vendor.

It's funny to me Clarin chose to write the story on meat when LOTS of things really are more expensive.

Actually it was La Nacion and not an article in Clarin. I suppose they cited beef as it is something produced locally and you would think they have a big cost advantage as wages are much lower in Argentina. Of course when people talk about Argentine beef these days it may actually be imported from someplace else as the local beef industry has been decimated in recent years.

 

[EricM]

I am back in California for a bit and was shopping at a discount bulk supermarket with good quality meat and checked out the prices here. Lomo in bulk (a whole tenderloin) available exactly the same in Argentina (but much better in AR), $10.99/lb. That's $96 AR/Kilo. More than in the best restaurant in BA...

 

[chris]

I find ground beef here to be very, very poor quality - full of fat. No comparison to what you can get in the US, especially if you buy prime ground beef.

I still can't understand how expats from the US have had such bad experience with beef from the US when there is such a large supply and so many options. You really can get whatever you want.

Anyway, someone pointed out that some of the beef sold here is imported. Is that true? Imported from where?

 

[Philsword]

I find ground beef here to be very, very poor quality - full of fat. No comparison to what you can get in the US, especially if you buy prime ground beef.

I still can't understand how expats from the US have had such bad experience with beef from the US when there is such a large supply and so many options. You really can get whatever you want.

Anyway, someone pointed out that some of the beef sold here is imported. Is that true? Imported from where?

In the good old days Argentine beef was grass-fed. Today you would have severe difficulty finding anything that isn't grain fed. Feed lots are the norm today in Argentina. I doubt there is any real difference between between beef in Argentina and the U.S. today. The idea that Argentine beef superior and tastes better because its grass fed just isn't true anymore.

There are problems in the Argentine industry relating to hygiene, like transporting meat in non-refrigerated containers. I believe Argentina has one of the worlds highest rates of death from E-coli. You need to be sure your meat here is thoroughly cooked.

I have read several times due to the poor health of the industry that Argentina would have to import beef to meet domestic needs in 2010 and 2011. I have not seen anything that says they are actually doing that, although my guess it would be done without much publicity. My guess if they are importing beef its probably from Uruguay.

 

[jb5]

Chris, stop buying the bad stuff in supermarkets and go to a good butcher. They're everywhere! They will freshly grind you a low fat piece of beef for less than you'd pay at Jumbo et al.

The big problem regarding rising prices is that meat production has gone way down in AR. When the government put a limit on the amount that could be exported, many cattle farmers stoped raising cattle. You can make much more planting soybeans-- they can be exported for high prices.

 

[chris]

I occasionally ask the butcher to grind lomo for hamburgers but I have almost completely given up bothering and just don't eat ground beef here. Ground beef was bad in the Menem years when all the beef was grass fed. It's not something new now that grain fed beef is common. I was just saying that in the US you can go to any supermarket and get great ground beef (especially prime meat) at low cost and you don't have to go to any trouble to do it.

About restaurants, to get good beef nowadays you need to go to the best parillas. For example I had lunch at El Mirasol today. A 700 gram portion of beef was $130. It was enough for me to share. I don't eat huge portions. The beef was very tender and tasty but I wouldn't get the same in most parillas. EL Mirasol is one of the best in the city.

Transportation: This is a huge problem here. The lack of refrigeration, as someone pointed out, creates health risks. The distribution system seems quite slow. I never eat fish in the hot months for this reason.