Posts Tagged ‘Food’
On the Up and Up
June 9th, 2010 | 
Author: I went for lunch with a friend a couple of days ago, we had a sandwich each, a drink and a coffee. The bill came to 128 pesos. That may not mean anything to you but had we not finished our delicious lunch, we may well have choked on it.
Everybody that has spent any length of time in Buenos Aires has stories about how expensive it has become. I first came here nearly 3 years ago when 6 of us ate (in a good but basic cafe) a main meal and dessert and had change from 100 pesos. The first thing you’re going to do is look up how much 100 pesos is. I’ll save you the bother, as of today 100 pesos is £17.54 ($25.50 or €21.25). That makes our lunch clock in at £22.45, London prices indeed.
To put this into some sort of comparison, I went for a job interview the other day. It’s a customer-facing role for a professional company, requiring language skills and technology experience. Take home pay is 3,000 pesos a month (£526.33). If you’re sharing a decent flat and lucky enough to pay Argentinian rates (as opposed to tourist short-term rates) your rent & services will come to around half of that. This leaves you with £263 a month, that’s 10 lunches for 2. And I am, of course, one of the lucky few.
Veinte Pesos. Flickr image by Irargerich.
Whatever great economic progress the government is trumping, the fact remains that living here remains a struggle for the vast majority of the population (working full-time in a coffee shop pays about 1,200 pesos a month).
To illustrate this, there is a nice parallel to the Big Mac Index, the Ugi’s Pizza index, which tracks the cost of a plain Muzzerela pizza at resolutely working-class pizza chain, Ugi’s Pizza. In the last 10 years, it’s gone from 2 pesos to 16 (64% in real terms). If that’s just too depressing to contemplate, here are some great shots of people who just won’t be put off by a 16 peso pizza.
Posted in Argentina, Food, Non-Travel, South America | 
Tags: cash, Food, money, pay, pizza, work | 
No Comments »
How I came to love the Argentinian cow
Argentina is known for many things, Polo, Football, that unfortunate incident in the early 80s (started by a drunk General according to a taxi driver I had the other night) and of course Steak. Before coming here, you think, yeah yeah steak. We have great steak in Europe, how good can it be? Well, think again my little European amigos, it is incredible. Seriously words cannot do justice to how wonderful it is. For a more detailed description (and much better written than anything I could do) of Steak and Argentinian food in general see the marvellous Argentina on 2 Steaks a Day. Frankly 2 a day is a little ambitious, and I tend to go for the Steak and Starve technique. On day one go for the Bife de Lomo option (usually served on it's own with nothing to distract from the cowly goodness) and the next day stick to salad and empanadas and then on day 3 back to a Bife de Chorizo or Asado (ribs).
Most places cook it on a parilla, which is basically a bloody great barbecue, and it arrives at the table nicely blackened and oozing blood and juice. So, it already looks great, and then you cut into it and the first thing you notice is the ease with which your knife slides through the meat. Not the slightest resistance, you barely have to move your wrist. A little bit of chimmichurri sauce on it and then in it goes into your mouth which is when the fun starts. This is not the chewy stringy experience you might find in your local Harvester, it has the consistency of a boiled potato, which might not sound very appetizing but imagine a nice soft boiled potato that tastes of steak, well that is steak. So the first mouthful goes down very smoothly and you are left with a wonderful meaty, grilled, charcoal taste in your mouth. A long slow gulp of Malbec and you put your glass down very happy. Then you look at your plate and you realise that this is just the beginning.
Right, off to lunch now. Buen provecho.
