Food and Travel

I think I can say as a fact that Argentinian food is not healthy. Alongside the famous steaks, Argentina is also good at chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage), Italian food and ice cream. There aren't many vegetables. That's not to say that it isn't all delicious though.

A large, bloody steak

In Buenos Aires, we've typically been snacking on croissants (medialunas, literally half-moons), cheese and ham toasties and tea and coffee throughout the day. We've also been escaping from the heat with ice cream or freshly-pressed orange juice. Dinner happens a lot later than we're used to at home - we typically head out for something at around 9 - 10 o'clock, when the restaurants are just about opening.

On most evenings, we've gone out to nearby restaurants. Once to a traditional (read slightly touristy) parrilla, or steakhouse, where we shared the biggest, bloodiest steak I've ever seen. On another, we went to a quaint Italian restaurant where we were served with some delicious, rich pasta and seafood. One time, we tried to be more healthy, but failed miserably when our grilled vegetables were swimming in oil. We've decided since then to stick to what the Argentinians are good at.

Enjoying some Italian food, with some greenery on top

We stayed in once at our hostel for a feast of traditional Argentinian food - various steak cuts, choripan (chorizo in bread) and morcilla, the sticky and rich blood sausage. This was served alongside red wine, which is ubiquitous round here. We even managed to get some salad!

The King of Ham lives in Argentina

We've now made our way to the small country town of Sierra de la Ventana - a complete change of scene from the bustling Buenos Aires with its dusty roads, stray dogs and long afternoon siesta. For the 8 hour overnight bus journey there was only a 'semi-cama' option - meaning the beds reclined to about 45°. It was much more comfortable than a similar length journey would be back home, and we can't wait to experience the (fully-reclining) cama buses for the longer trips further south.