Fabulous Fattening Food
The peso is the currency of Argentina, but the word also translates to weight- something I am putting a lot of on my body because of all the amazing food here. I do not think I have ever eaten more in my life than I am eating here.
Each day begins with a small breakfast Rita prepares. We sip herbal tea or coffee and munch on two pieces of toast. To spread on the toast, our options are butter, peach marmalade, and dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is the most delicious, heavenly substance I have ever tasted. I normally have one piece of toast with butter then treat myself to a piece with dulce de leche. The breakfasts here are small but satisfying. Eggs are never eaten for breakfast, and when I informed Rita that we sometimes eat breakfasts with eggs, cheese, sausages, bacon, and pancakes in the United States, her eyes widened in horror. This is simply not done in Argentina.
The breakfasts are small but lunch is a big meal and a grand occasion that compensates for the lack of early morning food. Lunch time each day is around one in the afternoon. A typical lunch consists of empanadas, pizza with fainá (a sort of thin, unleavened pancake or crêpe of chickpea flour), chicken and potatoes, pasta, or any type of meat. The meal is accompanied by soda or a glass of wine and the prices range from eighty pesos to one hundred and forty pesos depending on the restaurant and the quality of the food. Porteños will spend about an hour or so eating lunch, conversing with friends, and relaxing before going back to work or school. At our school, we have a break at eleven in the morning to run out and grab coffee and then a lunch break at one in the afternoon to get a good meal. The best lunch I have had in Buenos Aires so far was a creamy risotto with mushrooms in the restaurant of the Evita Perón museum in Palermo. All of the food here is very rich and loaded with carbohydrates and protein. I am finding that Porteños do not eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, so when I have the opportunity to eat them, I jump on it with newfound appreciation.
Between lunch and dinner is la merienda, a light meal consisting of coffee and a pastry or small sandwich that takes place around five in the afternoon each day. My friends and I will often finish our day at the school, go to some tourist destination such as a museum or a park for a bit, then head to a café for una merienda like true Porteños do. The best meriendas consist of espresso or café con leche and medialunas (croissants) in my opinion. I find this meal necessary because dinner is not eaten until much later in the evening and I don’t think I could last from lunch until dinner without it.
Each evening, we sit down to dine at nine. Dinner is another grand occasion, often taking over an hour to consume while chatting about the day’s events and making plans for the days to come. Rita is a fabulous cook and she always makes us large meals that leave me satisfied and ready for bed. Some of the best dinners she has prepared for us were butternut squash soup followed by a torte filled with zapallitos (small, round, zucchini-like vegetables), milanesa (breaded meat) with potatoes, chicken with lemon and tomato salad, and of course, empanadas.
Empanadas here are stuffed with carne (ground beef), carne picante (spicy ground beef that’s not really spicy, but has some cumin), carne cortada con cuchillo (chopped steak), ham & cheese, cheese & onion, caprese (tomato, cheese, and basil), humita (sweet corn-like mush), or vegetable (mostly swiss chard in a white sauce). My personal favorite is the plain old empanada with carne. I normally eat three for lunch and I’m a happy camper. I could go on and on about the food forever so I will leave you with this: the food in Argentina is outstanding. The meat is the finest in the world and I doubt I will ever eat as much carne and fried food again in my life, so I am making the most of every meal. I buy myself rich and creamy ice cream as often as possible and sweets at every café we pass. As Aziz Ansari likes to say as Tom Haverford in Parks and Recreation, “treat yo-self.”
