BootsnAll Travel Network



All About Food

6 June 2005 (Monday) – Buenos Aires, Argentina

I woke up to an extremely foggy Buenos Aires. The fog hung so low that buildings taller than 10 storeys were already enshrouded in the clouds. Incredible.

How low the fog hangs today!

Another incredible thing was that my only meal yesterday – choripan with chimichurri lasted til, what, noon today. I lazed around at home as I am on a holiday, as you know, and I only bothered to head out at 1pm to hunt for food.

Gosh, rainy rainy rainy… I was famished by the time I reached Av. Corrientes. I need food but where? I peered into a cafe at the corner of Talcahuano, crossed the street to an attractive-looking pizza place, then from there, spotted a sign back across the street for ‘Tenedor Libre – parrillada – comida china’ (barbecued meat – Chinese food) and I dashed back in a second like Flash Gordon.

Tenedor Libre literally means ‘Free Fork’. Not that you can keep a fork for a souvenir after the meal. This is just ‘Argentine’ for all-you-can-eat-buffet. I totally forgot about the parrilla and just gobbled down the other dishes of what-looked-like Chinese food. I had had too much meat for a while. So, at least in Chinese food, one can still find small pieces of vegetables somewhere in the stir-fry. This restaurant is actually quite good, with amazingly beautiful dessert as well. I think I am coming back again in a few days’ time.

Gosh, rainy rainy rainy… I did not do much actually, just wandered down to San Telmo and discovered that everything was closed and wandered back to town.

Displays of antique

Carlos Gardel, tango legend

By night, I passed by La Giralda on Av. Corrientes 1400+ and remembered that Pablo had told me this is THE PLACE to drink hot chocolate and eat churros (a crispy sweet snack with a cross-section of a star of sorts, about the length of a palm). So, why not? Now is THE TIME to try it. La Giralda is another of those traditional charming cafe, with waiters in white uniform and the black bow-tie. Ah, I just love hanging out in cafes here.

La Giralda, a simple and traditional cafe along Av. Corrientes

Well, the Argentines have this drink called – submarino, literally, it means ‘submarine’. That is hot milk with a bar of chocolate submerged inside. The chocolate then melts away, making a variant of hot chocolate with minuscule pieces of chocolate floating around. And it is SUPERB! It is so simple to prepare and so so so delicious.

And the churros… Well, the waiter recommended the churros with dulce de leche inside. Yes, there can be no other type of churros. Again, I nearly passed out when I sunk my teeth into them. Unbelievable.

That evening, I chatted with Claudia about the eating habits of Argentines. What is it with the flaco (thin) Argentines? How do they do it?

She explained that indeed one of this country’s problems (amongst the many assorted ones) is the over-emphasis on beauty. Everyone is obsessed with being beautiful and slim. So, while I see people eating very late and all the time, she explained that many of the flacos eat like a bird on certain days and gorge themselves another. She claimed that this country has the second highest number of people who undergo plastic surgery, after United States of America. (I would later hear the same comment from my Brazilian host about Brazil and considering the population sizes of both countries, I think I believe my Brazilian host.) Indeed, there are also many bulimics. Wow. I am surprised by myself. So, my theory 2 days ago about bulimia and liposuction was not so far off afterall. I have seen a couple of advertisements stuck on bus-stops or whatever from numerous psychologists in Buenos Aires (a ratio of 1-to-3, can you beat that?) offering various consultation on eating habits.

Well, take a look at what other Argentine cuisine has to offer! Gosh, I came on this trip hoping to shed some weight. But instead, I already feel myself putting on weight with all the great food around here – asado, milanesa (breaded chicken or beef filet), all-you-can-eat buffet, dulce de leche everything, etc… I am walking 6km – 10km daily but these exercises seemed to have no effect at all on me. The worst is, I am also tuning my dining hours to that of the Argentines as both Claudia and Pablo only start preparing dinner at around 10:30pm-11:30pm or so, and we only complete the meal at, what, 1:30am.

Hmm… go bulimic or liposuction?



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