Gastronomy & Enology

A few of you have asked me about food and wines in Uruguay and Argentina. I´ve been reluctant to respond because I wasn´t sure I could respond knowledgably. Traveling alone, my emphasis has been on going as cheaply as possible so I´ve only been eating in places that struck me as being cheap. So you can understand why I was hesitant to report on what the food is like. It would be like eating in greasy spoon cafes in CA and then reporting on "California cuisine."

However, having said that, when I was traveling in Italy as a starving student, many decades ago, I NEVER had a bad meal. At a minimum, the food was good and frequently was outstanding. Regrettably, that´s not the case in Argentina and Uruguay. I think I can substantiate this not only by my experiences but also from talking to other foreigners as well. Somewhere between Italy and Arg./Urug., the recipes for great dishes got lost in the Atlantic.

They don´t seem to use any herbs or spices. They just throw meat on the BBQ and then serve it. Argentina, and Uruguay too for that matter, are supposed to be famous for their beef. But I would prefer it prepared with SOME sort of interesting ganish. They put salt on the table, period. In Venezuela, when I wanted to put pepper on my scrambled eggs, they looked at me as if I were a little crazy. I have noticed that in the open air markets, herbs and spices are a common item for sale. I think it´s possible to eat here as well as in the US, and much more cheaply, but you´re just going to have to cook it yourself.

The marinara sauce here is disappointing, and, in my opinion, that´s the heart and soul of Italian cooking. I suspect it´s because they don´t put enough spices in it, or perhaps they don´t let it simmer long enough. Dinner seems to consist of a bunch of BBQ´d meat, period. You can ask for french fries extra or a salad. But I don´t ever see any veggies as an option. It´s a shame, because the fruit and veggie markets have great looking stuff. Keep in mind, also, I´m talking about what one can find available in restaurants, not what one would be served in some one´s house.

Pasta dishes are a popular item. You can order different sauces: pesto, marinara, bolognesa (where they throw in a bunch of hamburger and sometimes call it goulash). Another popular item is a "milanesa." These are closest to what we would think of as a veal cutlet. However, veal is politically incorrect probably everywhere in the world, so the cutlet can be beef, chicken, or pork. They pound it flat and thin and then bread it. This would be a good time to use herbs and spices but that doesn´t seem to be the case. "Milanesa neapolitana" is beef cordon bleu, a thin slice of ham and cheese on top. It sounds great, and looks great, but the flavor is not memorable. Again, please keep in mind that every city has good, even great, restaurants. I´m not talking about those. I´m talking about the average restaurant on the street with umbrella covered tables out on the sidewalk. There´s always a waiter and there always seems to be nice plates, silverware, wine glasses, etc.

There are BBQ restaurants (parillas) everywhere. The air is literally filled with the scent of BBQ smoke. Frequently patrons get a plate of BBQ´d body parts from the cow which one might have suspected were not edible. Added to that is molchilla, or blood sausage. All is thrown on the BBQ and then piled on a big plate in front of you, kind of like a vegetarian´s nightmare. You can order just ribs, or beefsteak, or chicken, or whatever, and avoid the tongue, hoof, brain, tripe, gizzard, liver, etc. The good news is....it´s cheap. All the plates described above go for about $4-5. The expensive part is the diet Coke.

Pizza is also a popular item. However, in this department, I am completely and unashamedly biased. The best pizza in the the world is in New York. Period. Good crust, lots of tomato sauce, good cheese, a plethora of toppings. Here, they make pizza like it´s made in Italy. There´s the crust and the tomato sauce. Then one, maybe two, toppings, like chopped olives. Pizza without cheese, to me, is interesting but it´s not pizza.

Breakfast is two to three croissants and coffee. I use the word "croissant" only in the sense that they are bakery products served in the shape of a crescent moon. The similarity ends there. They are thick and doughy and VERY filling. They are probably excellent if you have a loose stool. After one of these breakfasts, you won´t go for 3 days. I have the reverse problem, so I dutifully carry around my package of prunes or other dried fruit to try to overcome the plumbing plugging breakfasts.

Arg.-Urug. beer is definitely better than the large commercial US beer brands, but nowhere near the quality of a Heineken or German beer, or an American micobrew. I haven´t tried any of the wines, but I´m looking forward to doing so once Elsbeth arrives.

For dessert, there´s ice cream and ice cream shops everywhere. On a scale of 1 to 10, where Baskin Robbins, Haagen Daz, and Ben and Jerry are 9, the ice cream here is a 6-7.

At the risk of sounding too negative about Arg-Urg cuisine, let me freely confess that I belong to the Irish school of thought; namely, the best appetizer is hunger. In the heat and humidity of my summer down here, ANY ice cream tastes great! At 9 o´clock at night, when the sun has finally gone down (about 8), and the temp. has cooled from the hot 80´s to the more pleasant 70´s, that plate of raviolis looks great!

Buen provecho!