It is amazing how much your surroundings affect you; the impact geography has in your culture and at the end, in your particular
life. Whether you live in the desert, on a mountain or in an island, the location you live in and its
features have a huge influence on you and your culture. Since cuisine plays a major role in culture like any other aspects of everyday life, it is too affected by the specific
geographical case. It is by no means a mystery why it is unusual to find lobsters as a main dish in a restaurant located in a desert like area, or watermelon as a dessert in a restaurant located on a snowy mountain. It is clear that in one way or another, connection exists between geography and cuisine.
The question raised of how geography features affect locale cuisine seemed very appealing to me. I decided to get to the depth of the question, and I did it by choosing a specific place, and making the connection between the geographic features and the place’s cuisine. Being raised by a couple of South Americans, I grew to love meat, because of the rich meat culture South America has. Therefore I thought, what would be better than researching on the meat cuisine in South America? However, South America itself is too broad of an area, so I chose a specific country, Argentina, who is known for its meat.
Argentina, located in the southern part of South America, borders the South Atlantic Ocean between Chile and Uruguay. It is the second largest country in South America, after Brazil, and is slightly less than 3 tenths the size of the US. Rather than being one of the second largest country in South America, Argentina is known for its diverse geographical features. Argentina is divided into six geographical regions, Pampas, Patagonia, Mesopotamia, Northeast, Northwest, and Cuyo. The six regions are extremely interesting, but the one that has the most impact on the Argentinean cuisine, is probably the Pampas.
The Pampas of Argentina are a grassland biome. Filled with flat, rich soiled, green plains, the Pampas are the ideal region to raise cattle. The winters are cold to mild, and summers can get hot and humid. There is an existing difference between seasons, but the temperatures never go to extremes, neither hot nor cold. During the summer, the precipitation level is high. All these elements, make a fine environment for cattle. In fact, the home of the Argentinean cowboy, “el gaucho”, is the Pampas.
The cattle are raised in large amounts and are very diverse.The cattle were first introduced by the European conquerors in the 1550’s, and were practically roamed freely. Since then, the Pampas have become on the of the largest meat producing and importing regions. It had a huge impact on Argentinean cuisine, because meat became one of the main ingredients. The traditional Argentinean meal, barbecue on an open fire, is called asado. It is made out of sausages, such as chorizos, morcillas, chinchulines, and mollejas, and regular meat.
The cows that are raised in the Pampas play an important role in Argentinean traditional cuisine farther than just being the meat. Another Argentinean traditional dessert, is called “dulce de leche”, or in free translation, “milk jam”, is just like its name, made out of milk. Dulce de leche is an important ingredient in Argentinean desserts, like cakes, ice creams and such.
Argentina, located in South America, first discovered by the Europeans in 1502, and became a Spanish colony by 1580. Spain was not the only country that controlled Argentina, Italy and France did too. Because of Argentine’s location, South America, it became a colony to many European countries at one time. The Italian cuisine for example, has influenced the Argentinean cuisine, and finding a good spaghetti meal in Buenos Aires, is as casual as finding an asado.
As a matter of fact, geography has proven to effect culture, including locale cuisine. I chose Argentina, because of its rich soiled region that turned to be one of the biggest meat producing areas, which obviously had a direct influence on Argentina’s cuisine. The location of Argentina was also important, because it became a target to Europeans in the 1550’s, and they brought with themselves their own cuisine culture. Whether I its weather, region, or location, geographical features do have an impact on locale cuisine.