Learning About Avitaminosis

I know, I know. I may not be THE smartest, but I know some things. This is the first time in my life I've googled "vitamin deficiency" to learn what the technical term might be. What I mean to say is: this is my first post about Argentine and Chilean cuisine. 

My traveling style has changed since I first started traveling. Some of that has to do with maturity, with whom I travel, where I am, and general disenchantment with some of the more "regular" tourist activities. 

I used to want to see everything. I'd draw out a route and hit every church, plaza, museum, and the most famous places to eat. I still want to see a place, I'm not saying I want to be at home sitting on my couch watching documentaries about the Maine woods. I mean that I just want to travel the world to eat. 

I'm going to summarize Argentina and Chile's food and then I'll hit you with the mouthwatering evidence (no, not a picture of how my gut is growing, but I can privately send you that if you don't believe me or the pictures don't explain what the results could be).

I've been in Argentina just under three weeks. I've had salad once, fruit I bought myself at the grocery six times, and roasted vegetables in any form four times. 

I refer to all the meals I've eaten in those three weeks. Argentine cuisine is as follows: meat, hamburger, fried steak, ribs, sausages, steak, bread, alfajor cookies, dulce de leche, and maté (tea-ish) with a spoonful of sugar per three sips. Sometimes we've also eaten French fries, with bread on the side. 

This here is a brunch in a very US-ish place. 

Empanadas... The best snack invented. 

Homemade "locro", a special occasion food as made by my "abuela"

Pastry filled with dulce de leche

Ice cream, duh. 

Pizza and beer... Easy to forget how great this combination is after walking all day. 

The healthiest thing I've eaten and I think the spinach medallions are pan-fried. 

Now I'll hit you with the meat gallery. Keep in mind I didn't even get a picture at the meat BUFFET I went to on Saturday (I had just jumped out of an airplane and hadn't eaten but a bag of ham-flavored potato chips since breakfast):

The milanesa, like a chicken-fried steak but eaten always. 

There's some salad with this all-inclusive horseback riding BBQ!

Choripan #1, chorizo with tomatoes and chimichurri spicy sauce

Half of choripan #2 at the fútbol match. Mustard-covered, yes. 

Grilling! Too bad I didn't get a picture of the baby pig I ate at a college party in Córdoba!

Lomito sandwich. All steak and ham. 

Chilean food on the other hand has significantly more variety. The must-eats I've been told about are chorrillanas and hot dogs. Chorrillanas are a plate of French fries with an oniony gravy sauce, hot dogs, and bits of steak and green herbs over it. That was also served with bread. 

The hot dogs however are very special: they come with several sauces, avocado, and occasionally a bit of lettuce or tomato. 

A Chilean alfajor with their version of dulce de leche, called "manjar", made by a certain Don Sergio, an old man with a doorbell to ring for treats!

Tonight I ate at a typical Chilean restaurant with my Couchsurf host and her boyfriend and had a lovely shepherd's pie-like concoction with steak, chicken, boiled egg, corn and potatoes. And a pisco sour in the corner there, if you can't tell. 

A closing story told in translation (but I'm fluent as all get out, so trust me) to give a little more perspective: I was enjoying some maté with my friend and her friends in Córdoba. Maté is a very traditional and social drink. The person pouring pours water into the gourd and passes it to the first person who takes her few sips until it's gone and passes it back. It receives more water and is passed to the next person. This particular time the water-master is putting a spoonful of sugar for every person so we are essentially drinking hot sugar water laced with some dried green maté plants. My friend and I start commenting on the sugar level and that we don't need that much sugar. A friend says that US people can't handle their sugar. Her sister tells us a story about a friend she has who went to the US to nanny. The parents had a rule that the children couldn't have sugar less than two hours before bedtime. ALL four argentines sitting there start laughing uncontrollably. One says, "sugar doesn't make you crazy! Why do they think that?!" 

It's perceived so differently. I'm abstaining from making any medical statements because I'm not totally certain sugar causes cavities, diabetes, and obesity, but if someone would do a comparative study on the effect on our people and evidence in the US and Argentina, I'd love to read that. 

And I can't wait to see what Chilean treats I get shown tomorrow. Staying with locals is the best! I think we are talking vino y vino y cake for dinner but maybe I'll get to try a famous hot dog for lunch!