puedo leer la carta?

EmpanadasThe beauty of eating in Buenos Aires is that restaurants are affordable enough (gotta love the exchange rate) that we, poor college students, can eat out on a semi-regular basis. This is a huge improvement from the ramen and $2.00 pizza slice diet I have become accustomed to in NYC. On the other hand, deciphering the menu may take longer than the meal itself. Even when you manage to decode the “carta,” often times what arrives on the plate in front of you is a far cry from its equivalent in the states. I have been here for a month and a half now, and have finally managed to memorize the names of most cuts of meat (more out of fear of ordering cow intestines that actually wanting to increase my Spanish vocabulary). I have also come to the saddening realization that NO salads in this country are embellished with any dressing besides oil and vinegar.
My basic diet here in Argentina consists of steak (or some other kind of red meat) when I go out for dinner, empenadas or a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch from the café across the street from the academic center, and coffee from a place down the street in between my classes. The coffee servings here are nothing compared to Starbucks (a large size here slightly resembles the espresso size in New York), but the taste and strength of these petite servings puts many American brand name beans to shame.
Besides the coffee beans, there are many other unique things about the food down south. There is a serious lack of spice in this country. I may just be used to the American obsession with condiments, but the blandness and lack of herb, spice, and creamy sauce infused dishes has started to wear on me. I am also surprised that, with such a prevalent Italian population, the pizza is just not that good. There is a pizzeria on almost every block, and EVERY one, the pizza is prepared on thick not-so-pizza-dough, with little to no tomato sauce, and thick mountains of cheese I have never tasted before. Some other things that surprise me include: no fruit or vegetables included in the typical Argentine diet, Eggs are served on hamburgers and never eaten in the morning, milk is sold in a plastic bag at the grocery store, and there is no such thing as orange cheddar cheese.