Argentine Cuisine

Argentine cuisine blends indigenous tradition with European immigration, combining foods of the country's Indigenous peoples, among them humita, potato, cassava, pepper, tomato, bean and yerba mate, with Spanish colonial contributions and the customs of the Italian and Spanish immigrants who arrived in large numbers during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Beef is a large part of the Argentine diet owing to its vast production across the country's plains, and social dining is central to the culture, with Sunday family lunch regarded as the most significant meal of the week and homemade cooking used to express affection and mark special occasions. Beef dominates the table, supplemented by pork, poultry, lamb, especially in Patagonia, and seafood along the coast, together with dairy, grains and locally grown vegetables. Asado, an open fire barbecue, represents Argentine identity more than any other dish, alongside empanadas, pizza, pasta, milanesas, breaded meat cutlets, and dulce de leche, with yerba mate serving as the traditional beverage consumed socially throughout the country; massive European immigration between 1853 and 1955 introduced pasta, pizza, bread making and wine culture that remain central to Argentine food today.