One of life's big mysteries

[sergio]

It is your opinion. I consider brazilian beef to be slightly better than most beef you find in Europe, but it cannot be compared to Argentinian beef in terms of taste and tenderness. If you know something about cattle you know why: Brazil has a hotter climate, which is unsuitable for the better breeds like Aberdeen Angus, Shorton, etc.
You don't need any yucky sauce if the meat is good.
But I guess you start appreciate it once you have eaten tons of good beef. It is like wine, at the beginning all taste the same.
The regular Argentine has surely eaten many times the amount of beef you've eaten in your life.

Yes, it's my opinion and experience. Same with you -- YOUR opinion. Anyway how do you know how much beef I have eaten or how long I have been in Argentina? I've had good and bad beef in Argentina. In recent years it has been disappointing too often due to increasing use of feed lots.

I've also had great beef in the US, many times better than a lot of what I have been eating in Argentina since feed lots became popular. I've had amazing beef in southern Africa too.

 

[Amargo]

Anyway how do you know how much beef I have eaten or how long I have been in Argentina?

I was not born in Argentina, but believe me, if you don't hold an Argentine birth certificate, well, sorry, you are not in the top 40 million beef eaters of this World. Even people in BA don't eat nearly as much beef as in the provinces of BA, Santa Fé, south of Cordoba.
In small cities you can still find a lot of beef which doesn't come from a feed lot. Most of the feed-lot beef is meant for big cities and export.
I regret not having moved to Argentina earlier...I wasted a lot of years as a beef eater!
In Argentina you might get regular beef from the northern provinces, which is comparable with brazilian beef (because the cattle breeds/climate conditions are the same or similar). Beef from the Pampas has no match. If the beef you had in Switzerland, the US or South Africa had any sauce on it, well, it does not make much sense discussing it.

 

[Ries]

I wanna know which things are more expensive in Argentina, and which are more expensive in the USA.

I think, for an apples to apples comparison, though, you have to talk about locally sourced items.

Obviously, imports are usually more expensive in Argentina, which is directly traceable to tariffs and taxes- so there is no mystery there, and its a no brainer that ANY imported good is going to be costly, be it a bottle of good scotch, or an I-pod.

But I think I can list quite a few things that are CHEAPER in BsAs-

my previous examples of mate, fresh pasta, and limes, for example.

eggs are another. where I live, eggs run from $3 US to $5 US a dozen, depending on how much amphetamines and hormones you want included.

meat prices are cheaper in argentina as well.

When I am in El Norte, in Washington State, the state sells all liquor- which means I have no choice but to pay $30 US (120 pesos!) for .75 liter of Fernet Branca, Industria Argentina- compare that with the price at the chino...

(And dont try to trot out that old "local earning power" trope- I am talking world prices, in dollars or euros, not some indefinable ratio of local salary to local costs- because really, thats just not provable or comparable)

What local products are more expensive in Argentina?

Another thing I am curious about- it seems like small producer stuff- farm grown fruits and vegetables, fresh meat and poultry, eggs, things like that- are cheaper in Argentina, while multinational produced "consumer" foods that are highly processed are cheaper in the USA, mainly due to economy of scale, and, probably, the legal status of big companies in Argentina. Big companies in Argentina pay all legal taxes, while truck farmers dont.
So in the USA, economy of scale works in your favor, producing lower prices, while in Argentina, it may just make you more visible to the taxman...