Argentine cuisine
Argentine cuisine is described as a blending of cultures, from the Indigenous peoples of Argentina who focused on ingredients such as humita, potatoes, cassava, peppers, tomatoes, beans, and yerba mate, to Mediterranean influences brought by the Spanish during the colonial period.
[3] Another feature of Argentine cuisine is the preparation of homemade food such as French fries, patties, and pasta to celebrate a special occasion, to meet friends, or to honour someone.
[3] Large cities tend to host everything from high-end international cuisine to bodegones (inexpensive traditional hidden taverns), less stylish restaurants, and bars and canteens offering a range of dishes at affordable prices.
The arrival of Europeans brought Argentina into the Columbian Exchange, with ingredients from the Old World such as wheat, grapevine, figs, and several kinds of fruits being introduced to the country for the first time.
It was also during the Spanish colonial period that cattle, goat, and pig farming were first introduced to Argentina, forming the foundation of the large Argentine beef industry.
[7] Between 1853 and 1955, 6.6 million immigrants came to live in Argentina from Europe (especially from Italy, Wales, Germany and Switzerland), the Near and Middle East, Russia and Japan.
Some of the most common dishes during this time were soups with pork chunks, cooked partridge with legumes, spinach bread, beef slices, and lamb stew.
Different kinds of pastas such as long noodles or tallarines, gnocchi, ravioli, and cannelloni filled with ricotta cheese became popular along with pizza, fainá (Argentinian version of the traditional Italian farinata), and milanesas.
Additionally, deli stores started to incorporate traditional Iberian hams and sausages and great varieties of cheeses yet these were more limited.
This occurred at the same time that other global products began arriving to Argentina such as saffron, cod, different varieties of beans, chickpeas, additional spices, chocolates, and tea.
Empanadas, small pastries of meat, cheese, sweet corn, and many other fillings, are a common sight at parties and picnics, or as starters to a meal.
[9] The empanadas seen in Argentina today originate from a Spanish dish from the fifteenth century where travelers used easy-to-carry bread and filled it with a variety of ingredients.
Vegetables and salads are also eaten by Argentines; tomatoes, onions, lettuce, eggplants, squashes, and zucchini are common side dishes.
Fideos (noodles), tallarines (fettuccine and tagliatelle), ñoquis (gnocchi) are traditionally served on the 29th day of the month, ravioles, and canelones (cannelloni) can be bought freshly made in many establishments in the larger cities.
A sweet paste, dulce de leche is another treasured national food, used to fill cakes and pancakes, spread over toasted bread for breakfast, or served with ice cream.
Certain areas such as those located in the south are usually engaged in activities involving sheep and lamb breeding, and shellfish, crustaceans, molluscs and salmonides fishing.
The vast breeding activity involving any type of cattle has given rise to a highly developed dairy industry that includes products like cow, sheep and camelide, dulce de leche and yogurts.
As a result, dishes such as pasta, pizza, pucheros (stews), croquetas (fritters), sauces, embutidos (sausages), and chicken and meat courses brought a wider scope of options to daily menus.
The latter resembles a sort of roll pastry whose main dough ingredient is either butter or fat and which may be simple or stuffed with dulce de leche, milk, jam, crema pastel, or quince or apple jelly, among other fillings.
When preparing regional dishes, potatoes and corn or wheat are almost always used, including quinoa (a cereal typically used in Incan cuisine), peppers, squashes, tomatoes and in some provinces beans.
Stews such as locro, carbonada, pollo al disco, and cazuelas (casseroles) are also typical dishes characterizing this region, which also include pumpkin or potato pudding stuffed with meat.
Meals of all kinds are eaten, always with these two ingredients as a side dish, and even competitions of who can eat a set number of beans in the shortest period of time are held.
Abounding in rivers and shores, it offers a wide diversity of fish species, such as dorado, pacú, surubi, boga and silverside.
The large southern region of Patagonia is made up of the provinces Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego.
[17] Outpacing that of wine since 2001, the growing production and consumption of beer have supported the existence of related events, for example, beer festivals called Oktoberfests or "Fiestas de la Cerveza" in locations that have a significant German population (Villa General Belgrano in Córdoba, San Carlos and Esperanza in the province of Santa Fe, etc.).
[22] The fact that mate is so prevalent in the Southern Cone, however, should not necessarily make visitors think that other infusions are rare in the region; in Argentina especially, given the strong European cultural imprint, the consumption of coffee is very common (141 cups per capita, annually).
English cultural influence (reinforced at the end of the 19th century and the beginnings of the 20th by British contacts with the Far East) has also made the consumption of tea very common.
Common restoranes or restaurantes and rotiserias (grill restaurants) nearly anywhere in Argentina today serve (into the small hours) quickly prepared meals that in the course of the 20th century came to be known as minutas, "short-order dishes".
The most common sandwiches are those made of milanesa, baked ham and cheese, pan de miga, toast, pebetes, panchos (hot dogs), choripanes, morcipanes, etc.
Picadas, which are consumed at home or in bars, cafés, "cafetines" and "bodegones" are also popular; they consist of an ensemble of plates containing cubes of cheese (typically from Mar del Plata or Chubut), pieces of salame, olives in brine, french fries, maníes (peanuts), etc.
