{"id":31649,"date":"2017-10-05T13:00:59","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T17:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=31649"},"modified":"2019-06-06T10:37:27","modified_gmt":"2019-06-06T14:37:27","slug":"ruminations-wheres-beef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/ruminations-wheres-beef\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruminations: Where’s The Beef?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I moved to Buenos Aires 10 years ago to study abroad, I was on a 13-year meat-free eating streak. I had heard that leading a vegetarian lifestyle in such a carnivorous country could be difficult, but I was determined to stick to my diet (and still find delicious sustenance). I did it\u2014with the help of queso<\/em><\/i>.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t know much about Argentine food, here\u2019s a quick breakdown: Meat is king, cheese is queen, and bread and potatoes are successive royalty. I learned this on my first day in the country when I told a waiter I was vegetarian. I asked for a meat-free sandwich and salad; he brought me ham and cheese on toast with a side of potatoes and mayo. This scenario repeated itself several times before I wised up and mastered my no beef, no pork, no chicken<\/em> ordering skills. Then I made cheese the center of my meals.<\/p>\n

In Buenos Aires, wedges and wheels were all around me. At breakfast, my cortado<\/i> (espresso with milk) came with either a tostado<\/i>, a toasted sandwich oozing cheese, or a medialuna con queso<\/i>, a croissant-like pastry stuffed with curds and warmed in the oven until gooey. For lunch, I\u2019d go to the bakery for caprese miga<\/i>, a tea sandwich with thin layers of mozzarella, tomato, and basil. Or I\u2019d head to an empanada shop and order a cast of lactose-laden vegetarian flavors: empanada de queso y cebolla<\/i> stuffed with queso de barra<\/i>\u2014a pasta filata\u2013style cheese\u2014and onion; empanada de verdura<\/i> filled with b\u00e9chamel sauce and Swiss chard; blue cheese empanada de Roquefort<\/i>; and empanada de humita<\/i> with creamy fresh corn and ch\u00e8vre.<\/p>\n

I also frequented porte\u00f1o<\/i> pizzerias and became well-versed in Argentine-style (read: cheese-loaded) pies. In fact, most locals judge slices by the quantity of queso used. Hanging around the standing room\u2013only old-school pizza joints, I bumped elbows with regulars who filled up on fugazetta<\/i>, the thick, high-rising dough topped with an obscene amount of mozzarella and onions, or napolitana con fain\u00e1<\/i>, a slice with tomatoes, chopped garlic, and a thick coat of mozz, topped with a chickpea cake.<\/h3>\n

Parrillas<\/i> (steakhouses) and asados<\/i> (barbecues), two of Argentina\u2019s favorite social pastimes, were more challenging to crack. While offering seemingly every cow part imaginable, the grills don\u2019t carry many meat-free options\u2014except for provoleta. An asado staple, provoleta is a semi-firm wheel that\u2019s slapped on the barbecue and grilled until the outside forms a slightly burnt crust and the inside oozes melted goodness. It\u2019s topped off with a dusting of dried oregano and a drizzle of olive oil. In recent years, vegetables have crept onto the grill, too. One common iteration: a halved red pepper stuffed with blue cheese and an egg.<\/p>\n

After all this queso consumption, you might think I\u2019d skip cheesy sweets\u2026nope! Vigilante<\/em>, also known as queso y dulce<\/em>, is a traditional Argentine dessert consisting of cheese paired with dulce de batata<\/em> (sweet potato paste) or dulce de membrillo<\/em> (quince paste). Chocotorta<\/em>, chocolate cookies layered with a mixture of dulce de leche and cream cheese, is a common no-bake birthday cake. And, of course, there\u2019s the famous helado<\/em>, creamy gelato that\u2019s ubiquitous on sunny Buenos Aires days. Once I discovered the mascarpone-dulce de leche flavor\u2014and that most helader\u00edas <\/em>deliver by the kilo, free of charge\u2014there was no turning back.<\/p>\n

When my semester abroad ended, I made two drastic life changes. First, I wasn\u2019t ready to leave Buenos Aires\u2014there was so much more to discover (and eat)\u2014so I stayed. Second, I was<\/em> ready to ditch the vegetarian lifestyle and taste what this beef-centric South American country was really about. From that day forward\u2014after my first bite of chorizo sandwich\u2014I was taken with Argentina\u2019s carnivorous soul. And even though I finally found the beef, I never stopped devouring queso.<\/p>\n

Featured illustration: Tom Bingham<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How does a vegetarian survive in meaty Buenos Aires? The answer is simple: cheese!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":31652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[590],"tags":[1428,12773,12774,12778,1430,12781,12775,51,12779,12777,1427,12780,1426,1429,12776,960,32],"coauthors":[1425],"class_list":["post-31649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ruminations","tag-allie-lazar","tag-argentine","tag-buenos-aires","tag-caprese-miga","tag-cheese-survival","tag-chorizo","tag-cortado","tag-dessert","tag-empanada","tag-medialuna-con-queso","tag-no-meat-diet","tag-provoleta","tag-queso","tag-tom-bingham","tag-tostado","tag-travel","tag-vegetarian"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRuminations: Where's The Beef? - culture: the word on cheese<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/ruminations-wheres-beef\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ruminations: Where's The Beef?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How does a vegetarian survive in meaty Buenos Aires? 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