Popular Argentina Foods in Iguassu Falls?Popular Argentina foods is something you cannot miss experiencing when visiting Puerto Iguazu, Argentina’s lodging city for Iguassu Falls visitors.
To eat is a necessity and a pleasure we all enjoy, especially when we are on vacation. Behind a local cooking specialty there is the art of all those involved in putting it on your table and behind them the whole cultural heritage of a country. So eating popular Argentina foods is a way you can learn about one of the three countries involved on your vacation to Iguassu Falls.
Hey... I think I finally found a reasonable excuse to keep on indulging my appetite! Besides, by now we burned quite a lot of calories exploring Iguassu Falls jungles and that’s an even better excuse to put our teeth in good use. If you haven’t discovered Iguassu Falls yet I invite you to move from Popular Argentina Foods to our Iguassu Falls Family Vacation Getaway page... ...before we eat. But if you insist on eating first… here is our introduction to popular Argentina foods in the land of Iguassu Falls. A brief history of popular Argentina foods The history of popular Argentina foods starts all the way back in 1536 when Pedro de Mendoza’s first foundation of Buenos Aires (the actual Capital city of Argentina). On that expedition the Spanish conqueror brought with him the first livestock to arrive to these lands. The first foundation of Buenos Aires was ill fated though and those first settlers perished to Indian hostility and paradoxically… to famine. Abandoned in the wild, the original cattle they brought had a different luck, they could nothing else but prosper in the fertile prairies of the immense Argentine Pampas. From then on the meat of the noble cow was destined to become the most popular among popular Argentina foods.
For centuries Argentina’s livestock was wild and freely accessible for anybody to hunt and the Pampas the open territory of the legendary Gaucho, a romantic lone-ranger of the desert, friend of the horse, the facon (a large sized knife) and risky causes.
But this romantic era ended as they usually do… with a technologic breakthrough that would change forever Argentina’s future. The barbed-wire had arrived to Argentina.
The barbed-wire arrived and the government started applying policies to gain lands for “civilization” which really meant “free-of-hostile-Indians”. Armies were organized to fight the indigenous and the lands gained were given in property to the army officials as a prize for their service.
The development of refrigeration technology applied to meat processing and transportation marked the beginning of the “Argentinean meat golden age”.
The best British cattle races were brought to better the quality of Argentinean livestock which adapted nicely to the Pampas and huge investments in meat processing plants and transport infrastructure were made to put the Argentine beef on Europe’s tables.
Eastern wisdom says we are what we eat and that applies to cattle raising too. Argentina’s livestock is raised feeding exclusively on natural pastures and that makes a big difference in taste, tenderness and lower fat content that made of Argentina’s meat a worldwide brand. 
Argentina prospered greatly wheeled on the meat export boom of those times and Buenos Aires, fueled on this bonanza became a sophisticated and luxurious metropolis acquainted as the “Paris of South America”... and home of the Tango.
Growing incomes and abundance of high quality meats made them the popular meal of Argentineans who became one of the highest per-capita consumers of meat in the world and preparing “asados de los domingos” or Sunday barbecues in the garden became a family tradition and part of Argentina’s cultural identity. More or less, that’s how the famous Argentine beef became the most popular among popular Argentina foods. When visiting Iguassu Falls you can make your “bite” on premium Argentinean meat in Puerto Iguazu. To know our restaurant recommendations there please move from
Popular Argentina Foods to our Iguassu Falls Restaurants page.
But popular Argentina foods wouldn’t be complete without the right beverage. Argentina’s winery is renowned worldwide and a very important export industry that was born in the hands of Italian immigrants that settled in the Argentine western Provinces of Mendoza, Salta, La Rioja and San Juan all of which have privileged conditions for vine production. Until the late 1960’s Argentineans had the very Italian habit of drinking wine on every main meal. It was the age of common table wines, a sweet red or white wine with little or no aging that was bottled in “damajuanas” a 5 liters or 1.3 gallon glass container with a handle on it. These cheap but tasty wines were so popular they were distributed directly to Argentinean homes by specialized distributors on a daily basis, in the same manner milk used to be delivered in the old times. Instead of the milk-man it was the wine-man knocking your door.
Two old friends in Mendoza meet after a certain time and one asks the other “how long has it been since we last met?” and the other answers, “It’s been more than 300 damajuanas ago”.
When Economics change Habits Today Argentineans have greatly reduced wine consumption. What was the cause of this change? Vineyards were suffering grape and wine overproduction, reduced profit margins and fierce competition from beer brewers and soft drink bottlers so they focused on producing high quality export wines instead of the common, cheap table wine. Supply of common wines dropped dramatically and high priced quality wines could not be afforded by Argentineans as an everyday beverage so wine became a delicacy for special occasions and a very successful export product. Actually the finest Argentinean wines are expensive for the average Argentinean but a bargain compared with European and U.S. market prices. So when discovering popular Argentina foods on your visit to Iguassu Falls and Puerto Iguazu don’t miss tasting and shopping fine Argentinean wines! A place to buy wines… the right way Most of us buy wines in supermarkets or delicacy stores reading fancy labels on beautiful bottles. What else can we do if the wine is jailed inside the bottle and we cannot open it on the spot? But in Puerto Iguazu there’s a place where you can experience popular Argentina foods and wines differently. Puerto Iguazuences call this place “feria de vinos y quesos” or wine and cheese fair, located steps away from Downtown Puerto Iguazu.
Don’t expect a luxurious place though; this is a popular open marketplace made of specialty stores that are little more than wooden huts.
Assorted with a great variety of wines and delicacies, these stores have eating tables scattered around them where you are politely invited to sit to taste some of the best popular Argentina foods there is.
A combination of exquisite cheeses, sausages, olives and fumed ham that locals call “picada” that literally means “chopped” and the inseparable companion of this tasty delicacies are wines. After tasting wines on the spot you can really choose the one you like most to buy.
Now that was an experience on popular Argentina foods! But there’s a drawback on this way of buying wines: you should move back to your hotel on a taxi, remember it’s not wise to drink and drive! If you haven’t read about Puerto Iguazu yet, Argentina’s lodging city for Iguassu Falls visitors, please move from
Popular Argentina Foods to our Facts about Argentina page.
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