My most requested meal: steak on the grill, potatoes with onions and peppers, and wine. Buenos Aires is heaven for that reason…Everyone knows that Argentina is known for it’s meat. And not just any meat, but big, cheap, juicy steak! I think since I’ve been in Buenos Aires, I have consumed at least two good pieces of meat each day. Hey, when you can buy a hamburger for 3 pesos ($1) why not.
Parillas (grills) are on every corner. They do not even open until 8pm. Peak dinning hour in BA is around 11:00 PM!
Just opposite as in the US, meat is the staple served in the “comedors” or soup kitchens. In the US – I give props to Panara and Starbucks for donating left over bread and postres – but here in Argentina, steak is as abundant as donuts! A piece of steak one day, steak chunks over ravioli the next, followed by a milanesa (similar to chicken fried steak)…
You can’t forget the bread. Free, fresh, hot rolls served at each meal. (below: note the bread man delivering it by bike). And wine – you can’t go wrong…Argentinean red or white, have your pick, both are excellent compliments to your choice hunk of meat.
All meals are followed by a delicious cup of coffee. Unlike the steak, the coffee is consumed in miniscule quantities. Cafe doble (my favorite) is still like a shot of expresso – it’s a warm up…two or three cups are easily consumed in one setting! (I think that this might be exposing my addiction?)
This week we have been helping out in a local soup kitchen. It’s one of the community outreaches of “Iglesia del Centro” – the church that we are trying to partner with in order to send future World Race teams. The question I generally pose about big cities, “Where is the poverty in the city? And is there a large disparity between rich and poor?”
Strolling down the street, the city seems fairly well off. “The people here generally have enough money. Physically, most are amply supplied,” states Mario, the community outreach director of Iglesia del Centro, “but spiritually, morally and mentally, the people here are weak and poor.” Currently, the church has a free program for those that want to continue primary school (elementary). Once the church moves into their new building, they are turning their old building into a free, secondary school (high school) for those in the neighborhood that never had the chance to finish school. (note the man sleeping on the mattress at the base of Don Quiote…with the skyscraper in the background)
“Argentina used to be the most wealthy country in South America,” states Ana Maria, our friend/mom we met the first day in Buenos Aires, “but we are getting poorer each day…immigrants from Bolivia, Peru, etc. are flooding the city to pursuit their dreams and to get rich. Today, other than automobile accidents, the leading killer of adolescent females in Argentina is from contracting infections from the abortion process! Abortions are illegal in Argentina, thus those that exist are probably pretty sketchy.” Ana Maria works in the Ministry of Health here in Buenos Aires – so we know these statements are not just rumors, but the truth. Just like in the US, both abortions and single mothers are on the rise.
…yes meat and bread (substance) and wine (joy) and coffee (stimulus) are never ending in this city…but Spiritually? Mentally? Morally? What is the meat? The bread? The wine? The coffee?
“I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feed on this bread will live forever.”
– Jesus (
John 6:53-58)
What is your substance?…Joy?… Stimulus and motivation?
