| Page 2 of 2 < |
In Argentina, They've Got a Beef
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
"It's not a bad idea, but there are obvious problems with it," said Rosa Paez, 66, of Buenos Aires. "A lot of people here have never really understood the importance of eating greens, vegetables or seafood. Personally, I don't like seafood. So what can I do?"
She can buy more beef, which is exactly what she did, paying the equivalent of about $3 per pound for filet mignon.
Adelina Ordoñez, of the Argentine Association of Dietitians, said such faithful allegiance to the country's most famous staple is the principal problem she and her colleagues regularly encounter in trying to improve Argentines' diet.
"In a way, the president is cooperating with dietitians by encouraging people to pick a variety of other foods," said Ordoñez, who said she advises clients to vary their meat consumption with fish, poultry, lamb, eggs and other sources of protein. "It's difficult to make people change their habits, but it can be done."
An informal survey of butchers in the capital revealed that business hadn't changed significantly last week. In a market where several butcher shops compete side by side in the San Telmo neighborhood, Jorge Alejandro Santiago sharpened his knives and prepared to cut a chunk of tenderloin into steaks.
"What are people going to do, buy chicken?" said the skeptical 65-year-old butcher, whose shop sits across the aisle from a poultry vendor. "Chicken's no good -- it's full of water. If you eat a piece of chicken for dinner, you'll be hungry a half-hour later."
But don't pity the poultry man. Daniel Fernandez seemed to float on waves of national pride as he sliced chicken breasts and placed them under his glass display cabinet. Business, he said, seemed slightly more brisk than normal last week. He wasn't sure it had anything to do with the president's request, but he figured it couldn't have hurt.
"I think the president's idea was a very good one," he said, safely out of earshot of his red-meat competitors. "Look at the price of beef right now -- it's like robbery."
