Streetfood: Latin America (Buenos Aires)

In July 2020, the Netflix series "Streetfood: Latin America" was released, which reports on the different food cultures in Latin America. The series consists of 6 episodes, each presenting a country. The first episode focuses entirely on the street food culture in Buenos Aires. It shows what their passions, habits, and customs are.

I watched the series myself and wanted to share my impressions with you in this article:

One thing is certain: The Argentinians are a people with a lot of passion, good food, and beautiful traditions. Their music, art, and also architecture are very much influenced by European culture, as there are very few indigenous peoples. In the 19th century, many Spanish immigrants came to Argentina, bringing a lot of European culture with them.

The main character of this episode is Pato. It tells her life story and how she managed to become the best Tortilleria and the Place To Be in Argentina. The story always refers to the "Chicas de la tres". because her kiosk is located in the main market hall, the Mercado Central, at the third corner. Pato runs the shop with her partner and, after having fought hard for her name, is a celebrity in Buenos Aires. With her unique tortilla variations, where the basic ingredients are only eggs, cheese, and potatoes, she enchants every palate. Her motto has always been to make something special out of tradition, and thus she convinced her customers with many different and creative versions of her tortilla.

The following then also shows scenes of the Argentinian way of life and traditions. These are then connected with the respective typical traditional food. For example, Argentinians are passionate about football. However, there is no football game without Choripan (Recipe 3: Choripán with Scamorza and Chimichurri – Asamodo). Likewise, there are no street markets without a stand selling Empanadas. These are filled pastries usually with ground beef, bell pepper, oregano, pepper, salt, and tomato. Another typical dish is pizza. However, it traditionally has a much thicker crust than ours and much more cheese, as Argentinians love cheese. Mozzarella is mostly used for this.

Also, the Tango will be shown later on, along with the typical Salsa music, which plays on every street corner.

The most important tradition of Argentinians, however, is the Asado, where usually the whole family comes over and they grill together for several hours. In this video, you truly get a sense of the familiarity, openness, and passion that this culture brings. It also shows how the Asado has changed over the years. For example, in the past only men were allowed to grill and women were supposed to take care of the salad and the table setting, but that is no longer the case. Additionally, nowadays there are very modern versions of making an Asado, but the original idea of the open fire remains the same.

My conclusion: it is definitely worth watching this series once to learn about the tradition and lifestyle of Latin Americans through their food culture!

 

Author: Amelie Wurmstein