Week Two: Food!

Lucky we did not have to cook many meals in the kitchen and we got to eat out quite a bit. Within this first week I have learned that the Argentine people love pizza, empanadas, and beef. Argentina has/had a large immigrant population from many different countries especially Germany and Italy. Therefore the love of pizza makes sense. I have also noticed that many of the last names I have seen so far look Italian. I think that this will work out well for me because Italian food is probably my favorite type food! Speaking of Italian food…we ended up eating at the same Italian restaurant 3 times in one week. It was only a block away from the seminary and they had really good food at a very reasonable price. Their pizza is yummy…I am getting hungry just thinking about it. I also had lasagna that was made with thin pancakes instead of noodles…it was interesting. Empanadas are a great creation that I hope to learn how to make while I am here. Empanadas are a great creation that I hope to learn how to make while I am here. The name comes from the verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Empanada is made by folding a dough or bread patty around the stuffing. The stuffing can consist of many things such as meat or vegetables.

Ok…new paragraph just to talk about the beef. Milanesa (Pictured here) is breaded veal and it is on every menu in any restaurant (you can also get milanesa de pollo which is breaded chicken). One can get it as a sandwich or without bread but either way I hope you are hungry because they will give you two huge patties. We were lucky enough to have our country coordinator (Kate) and her family cook us super one night. They did it asado style which means they grilled the meat! My favorite meat we had that night was the lomo, which is tenderloin steak. They also made bife de chorizo, which is a prize steak cut, and chorizo which is a thick meaty sausage (but as I learned is not spiced like the spicy Spanish sausage that I was used to in Spain). Kate also made us salad because that is something most Argentine people do not eat. And for desert we had some of the most delicious ice cream I have ever had. It must again be the influence of the Italians because they are known for their gelato.