Eat More

Comés Comés! I hear this all the time here in Argentina. It means Eat Eat! My host mom seems to think that she should make a meal for four, eat one portion and then I will eat the rest. As much as I love food, and as much as I enjoy the food here I am simply unable to do this! Its funny, because back in the United States I am often teased for how much I eat, and for some reason I cannot live up to the expectations here. I wonder if part of this is a result of a common bad stereotype of US'ers.

(I dont know if I have explained this earlier so let me explain the term US'er. As citizens of the United States of America we simply refer to ourselves as Americans. This however upsets many of the people that we share the hemisphere with. They too see themselves as Americans because they live on the continent of North America or the continent of South America. People living in the countries of North America and South America find us to be quite arrogant when we claim that we are Americans as if there are no other ¨Americans.¨ Therefore I've begun to use the term US'er. It dosent have the same ring as American, but it is more politically correct and therefore makes people here in Argentina think at least a little higher of me when I'm butchering their language.)

There is a common misconception or stereotype that US'ers are fat, that we eat alot, that we are lazy, and so on. The stereotype that we have all heard before. I would hope that after meeting me my host mom didnt find that stereotype true. However it still puzzels me why I am expected to eat so much even after I have told her that I cannot eat that much. It seems like every night, I am telling her that I am full and cant eat anymore. I guess having to much is better than not having enough though.

Generally for breakfast I eat pretty light. I always have coffee for breakfast and usually have a several media lunas, a banana, or a little bit of a breakfast desert. The desert is a cake more or less with bits of apple in it and chocolate on top. It is good, but not as good as the media lunas! Media lunas are a cresant more or less, they have the same shape and size, but they are much much better! The ones I like the most have a little bit of a sugar coating on top. They are amazing!

I live 28 blocks from UCEL (the college I am attending here in Rosario). So for lunch I eat out every day. I have tried several places around the college, and have tried many different types of food. Today for example I had empanadas. Empanadas are a specialty here in Argentina. They are kind of like a hot pocket, except amazing! They consist of a dough that is stuffed with different kinds of fillings, then cooked in the oven. Today i had carne suave, pollo, and cantimpalo. So I had an empanada with smooth meat (meaning not spicy), chicken, and pepperoni. They were awesome. I have also had alot of pizza, because Argentina has alot of Italian roots, so they love pizza and pastas. I have eaten alot of hot dogs, because they are cheap, and actually really good too. I only pay 5 pesos for about a foot long hot dog, which equals out to about 1.25 USD. I have had alot of other things for lunch but that is just a general idea of my normal lunch.

For dinner I have had many different things as well. On sunday nights we almost always have pizza. Sunday is the day that my host mom dosent cook. Other nights we generally have some form of meat with potatoes, or vegetables. She loves diceing up tomatoes and putting salt and oil with them. Occasionally she puts cheese on them as well. Supprisingly I have enjoyed this some. I say supprisingly because I'm not a really big fan of tomatoes. One of her favorite things to make is milenesa. This is some type of meat, generally pork or chicken breaded with bread crumbs and eggs then either baked or pan fried. I have also had an omelet, carlitos (ham and cheese with ketchup on toasted bread), pasta, and much more.

The food has not seemed to different from the food in Iowa. I mean its different but not drastically different. What is different is the time that is taken for breakfast, lunch or dinner outside the home. When you go to a resturant in Argentina you can expect to spend 2+ hours there. The waiters do not bother you and rarely stop by the table unless they are brining you your food, taking your order, or if you call them over. This has been kind of hard to get used to since at home if the waiter dosent check in every now and again we consider them do be doing a bad job. Here though the opposite is true, if a waiter stops by the table to much it is considered rude. It has also been hard getting used to going without refills. In the US if you get a drink and its not full all the time the waiter has not done their job very well. I am so used to this concept of refills I have gotten used to drinking as much as I want with my meal. Here however, I order my drink it come in a glass bottle which is then poured into my glass, and if I want more to drink I have to ask for and pay for another drink. This has probably been one of the hardest things for me to get used too.

Finally I want to talk about my first experience with an asado! An asado is a large gathering of friends and family to eat together, and meat is the main course. There are several differnt kinds of meat and there is alot of all of it. In a sense it is like a bar-b-que back in Iowa...except different. I will post pictures on my Facebook of the asado so everyone can get an idea of this. And i will try and post pictures on my blog for those who do not have facebook. Its kind of hard to discribe what exactly an asado is. It is mainly a socail gathering but there is a ritual about how the meat and meal is prepared. The grill is started very early, and is just a fire. The cook then takes hot coals out of the fire and puts them under the first things that are being cooked. At my asado they started by roasting some red peppers. The cook continues to put coals under the food until they get the right temperature that they want. And different meats are added to the grill continually. The night of the Asado I had chorizo (a type of sausage), pork ribs, beef steak, and another cut of pork. All were delicious! The cook serves everyone and brings different meats at different times during the dinner. The whole process is very long. The Asado began around 8:30 or 9 and didnt end until after 1 in the morning! It was alot of fun though and the food was Amazing!

This seems to be the general consensus about the food in general here in Argentina. I have found a few things that I'm not particularly fond of, but for the most part everything has been very good.

I hope that everyone is still doing well back home!

-Nick