Argentina, meaning “land of silver”, is a rich and vast land, second largest in South America and eighth largest in the world. Its diverse landscapes stretch from the tropics in the north to the sub-polar region in the south and the rugged Andes mountains to the west.

Its heartland is a broad grassy plain known as the Pampas, where the Gaucho, like the American cowboy, has galloped into the country’s folklore. The rough, tough, free-riding horseman of the Pampas stands as one of the best known cultural symbols of the Argentine countryside. From the 19th century on, Argentina has been one of the world’s major food producers – wheat, beans, maize, soybeans, and especially beef. Argentina has been widely recognized and prized for its high quality grass-fed beef, exported to countries all around the world. This would explain why red meat is such a common part of the Argentine diet. It has often been said that Argentina has the highest per capita meat consumption in the world (around 150 lbs of beef each year for the average person. Over the decades, the gaucho way of grilling meat in an open fire evolved into a national pastime: cooking asado – the traditional Argentine barbecue, which is cooked slowly a la Parrilla (on the grill), over charcoal or wood. An asado features not only steak and ribs, but every imaginable cut of meat, some of which are quite different than what you may find in the United States. In addition to beef there’s sausages, sweetbreads, tripe, plus the occasional lamb, piglet or chicken…

“A vegetarian in Argentina is like a duck out of water.” –Anonymous
(From www.globalgourmet.com)

Another determining factor in Argentine cuisine is the heavy influence of Italian and Spanish cuisine. These European traditions have been complemented by indigenous influences as well as some French and even Near Eastern touches.

Recipe for making an Argentine
(from www.globalgourmet.com)
Add in the following order:
one native woman
two Spanish horsemen
three mestizo gauchos
one English traveler
half a Basque worker
and a pinch of African

Allow to cook for three centuries at low temperature. Before serving, quickly add five Italians, a Russian Jew, a German, a Galician, three-fourths a Lebanese, and finally a whole Frenchman. Allow to sit for 50 years, and then serve.

A word about Argentine Wine
(Extracted from www.vino.com)

Argentina is the world’s fourth largest wine producer …cultivating more than 50 varieties of grape suitable for making wine. … Two of these can be considered not only the most typical of Argentine wines but also two highly regarded varietals much appreciated abroad. In the white sector, the grape is the Torrontes, of unknown but probably Spanish origin… In the red sector we have the world’s only fine 100% Malbec wine, a grape of French origin…. Malbec, in the opinion of foreign experts, is Argentina’s standard-bearer in the wine world…