
The argentine gastronomy is the result of all the dishes that the European emigrants brought and the foods of the indigenous cultures. Argentina offers an incomparable variety of possibilities when it is time to enjoy an excellent food.
According to “Country Brand Index 2007”, a study carried out by the consultancy Future Brand, our country offers assorted and excellent “Gastronomic experiences”. That is how the country positions itself in the world as an attractive place to be visited by all the tourists of the world who want to enjoy our typical dishes.
The consultancy Future Brand has elaborated for three years a report called “Country Brand Index”. The last edition was presented the last November 12 in London’s World Travel Market. Future Mark ranks the nations according to different qualifications that attend to the different factors as a hotel, gastronomic, cultural and hotel offer and sport activities and outdoor activities
Gustavo Koniszcze,r manager of Future Brand Southern Cone, explained that the results were obtained after an interview with 1500 persons of different areas and 150 experts in tourism. From these interviews we can say that one of the main characteristics of the country is the gastronomy.
“In the country and specially in the City of Buenos Aires, there is an aura that positions its gastronomy in an unbeatable place, for the conception about the natural origin of its foods” said Koniszczer.
From all these attributes, the world observes that Argentina makes blunt for its variety and quality of culinary offer, like an actor who could increase its prominence in the tourist concert.
A great Creole barbecue, a gourmet salad, pasta with an excellent Malbec wine, is a dish that can’t be rejected. Argentina has different flavors, aromas that invite us to know them. The weathers of the country clarify every bite, every food; tradition and modernity join in every of the best restaurants.
A gastronomic little route
In the City of Buenos Aires there are dishes of different regions. La Costanera Norte and Puerto Madero are known by its barbecue; the Avenida de Mayo is the heart of the Spain Food; the most traditional pizzas can be found in Corrientes street, and the zones of Cortázar square, Palermo, Recoleta and Las Cañitas offer the most elaborated and exotic dishes.
All the Latin American and Europeans communities that live in Buenos Aires are represented by: Bolivian, Peruvian, Armenian, Spanish, Italian or Uruguayan restaurants. Moreover, there are restaurants that are specialized in Hindu, Thai, vegetarian, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican food, among others.
In many places of the Provinces of Santa Fe and Córdoba and the north part of Buenos Aires, where many Italian people lived, the preparation of salames, bondiolas, salamines and longanizas, and also the Bagnda Cauda. This last dish of the Italian Piamonte and it consists of putting in a bowl of terracotta a sauce using oil, nut and crushed garlic and salty anchovies. It is heated without coming to a boil…
The gastronomy of the North and west part of Argentina has the influence of the American indigenous. The inhabitants of the provinces of Jujuy, Salta, Catamarca, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Mendoza, San Juan or San Luís eat food of Andean origin such us corn, potato, peppers and red peppers and others of European origin. The “Empanadas” of this region are famous in all the country. The empanadas from Salta, Tucumán or Santiago del Estero are the most outstanding ones, specially the ones prepared with minced meat.
It is also prepared other typical dishes, for example the “humita” or the “tamale” using corn and a tasty stew prepared basically with grains of corn or beans: the Locro. In the wetter regions, beans, tomatoes, pumpkin, pepper or avocados are cultivated and the introduced species that abound this region: vines, olives and different kinds of peaches, pears, damsons, plums and apples.
In Corrientes, Chaco, Misiones and Formosa and part of Entre Ríos, Santa Fe and Santiago del Estero, the most common food has in its ingredients the tapioca, rice, fishes and the “mate”, that in this zone is also drunk cold. As regards fishes, the pacu, the Dorado, Surubí, Boga, Patí and Pejerrey are delicious. They are usually prepared roast, but sometimes they are flavored with lemon and other flavorings.
In the southern zone of the Patagonia is very obvious the influence of the North and Central part of Europe. The Welsh immigration introduced in Chubut the “black cake” and the Chubut cheese. The Central Europe has spread the preparation of certain desserts and sweets, chocolates, and also the smoked meat of wild boar, deer and salmons. The pre Hispanic communities contributed with bread and cakes made with pehuén flour, the flavoring called “merken” and cherry fruits.
The oceanic coasts and the lakes of this region have fishes for “pate” and casseroles. The Seafood Stew, pulp, Pollack, trouts, spider crab, conger, oysters and prawn are very famous dishes. In the Andes region beers (form Ireland and Center of Europe) are produced. In Río Negro and Neuquén valleys are produced white wine (the most southern vineyard of the planet).