This is our last foodie friday in South America so we should probably dedicate it to something we can’t escape here in Argentina- red meat. For most of latin america red meat is prohibitively expensive for the general population, so we’ve been eating mostly chicken and when we can find it, fish. That was until we got to Argentina. Now we can’t find fish.
Argentina is like heaven for red meat lovers. It’s delicious, available everywhere and very inexpensive. At every restaurant from the five stars to the local diner, red meat is on the menu in a list that would make even the top US steakhouses jealous. Cut after cut, which is usually translated as something different on every menu, the steak usually comes by itself, simply prepared with even salt or pepper. Every dining establishment has a steak sandwich (lomito sandwich) on the menu, and trust us, its delicious even at the bus station.
A “bife de chorizo”, which no lie is usually about 14 ounces or more of steak usually runs less than $10, and as you can imagine its enough food for an entire day. After more than a six weeks in Argentina and Chile we’ve had our full of steak, but we just can’t get away from it. I kid you not, Danny’s been looking for trout or salmon at every restaurant for the last three weeks and he’s only had salmon once…and that was in Chile. We just can’t get away from red meat.
When Danny’s parents came to visit us, his Dad made it a mission to eat steak at lunch and dinner every day. Not that its hard to do, but after a few days he had us all begging for chicken or a salad. Imagine what we feel like after six weeks! I’m certainly not complaining, I’m a red meat person myself, but every once in a while a girl needs a salad or a grilled chicken breast just to balance things out. Our cholesterol and weight probably don’t appreciate Argentina, but our palates certainly do. You can bet that once we leave I won’t be ordering a steak for a while.
Dad Tobias says
Come on Jillian, you don’t remember how I wanted three square meals of red meat per day – but Barbara would not let me do breakfast?
Jillian says
@Ben- Oh I remember, but I have to side with Barbara on this one… steak is only good for breakfast if it comes with eggs at a diner!