The taxi skillfully slaloms through the roaming dogs, barbecues with slabs of grilling meat and gossiping local residents. While strings of tourists stroll past the famous colored houses, yellow-blue football shirts of the local pride flutter gracefully with the wind.
The impoverished port district of La Boca – originally a bastion of immigrants – can be characterized as colorful and raw. A barrel full of contradictions, like the whole of Argentina. There will be a party here tonight. It takes a six-page menu to tell you what’s on offer. The buffets shine with national pride. Sweetbreads accompanied by an apple sauce, goat cheese dip with candied pistachios, oysters in combination with shallot vinaigrette. This is just a selection from the range of freshly prepared fish, meat and vegetables from our own soil. Malbec swims in the full wine glasses.
The Michelin Guide has found its way to Argentina
For years, the Ministry of Tourism has been working towards this moment. An amount of around 600,000 euros has been spent to show the world what Argentinian cuisine has to offer with a real quality mark. The Michelin Guide has found its way to Argentina as of today. The annual stress that comes with famous restaurant ratings now also affects the kitchens in Buenos Aires and Mendoza. No fewer than 71 restaurants will be put in the culinary spotlight amid loud cheers, ranging from recommendations to two stars.
Argentine gastronomy is flourishing, although the coveted Michelin stars ultimately shine in the shadow of something bigger in the South American country: hunger. A few blocks from the party location is one of the city’s hundreds of soup kitchens. As elsewhere, this is also staffed by toiling volunteers and underpaid workers. Previously only intended for children and their mothers, but due to ever-growing poverty Comedor infantil pequeños camioneritos now also open to everyone.
The free fall into poverty is always present here
Maria (61) comes there every day. “I now know what it is like to be hungry,” she says. A few years ago she was unceremoniously thrown out by the national library where she worked for 30 years. “It was as if both my legs were cut off,” she summarizes her feeling. Maria was forced to retire early. This had major financial and social consequences. With meager pensions, the free fall into poverty is always present here. And the blow is hard. Maria has been sleeping on a mattress in the living room of an acquaintance for some time. That’s what’s left for her.
But she walks fiercely through La Boca with a firm step and a straight back. Lunch is her first meal of the day. She hasn’t lost her pride, she smiles cautiously. “I may look beautiful and well-groomed on the outside, but on the inside I am dead,” says Maria, who, with her pink painted nails and purple eye shadow, still sees the future of her country as light blue. For heaven offers her hope, even in times of famine. May her Argentina rise like a phoenix from the ashes.
Here the menu fits on one page
Inside the wall of the soup kitchen hangs a photo of an exuberantly laughing pope with a white dove that seems to have just landed on his outstretched hand. Argentinian flags on the ceiling radiate glory and transience at the same time. Together with her team, Silvana keeps the kitchen running while she vigorously stirs the gigantic pan of pasta. As a mother of three children, and an absent father for the children, they always came here to eat. Now she is very proud that she can give something back. Silvana notices that more and more people are coming to eat who also work, but simply don’t have enough left over for three meals a day.
Here today’s menu simply fits on one page: pasta with sauce and chunks of bread. Bright yellow lemonade goes into plastic cups. Upon departure, everyone receives an apple or orange. See you tomorrow, it sounds resigned and familiar. The only certainty amid all the uncertainties is that Maria will come here again tomorrow. There seems to be no light at the end of this economic crisis tunnel for her – and now for almost half the population.
The stars who have come to illuminate Argentina tonight will undoubtedly provide additional income and investments. It is a welcome boost for tourism. The investment of €600,000 to acquire Michelin will pay for itself in the long term. It also aims to attract new gastronomic talent. Being obliged to work in the soup kitchen for a while would not be a bad idea if you want to be a real star later.
Our F/M
Peter Schouten (Zutphen, 1982) lives and works in Buenos Aires. He studied International Relations to the State University Groningen and Journalism in Utrecht. In the Argentinian capital is he correspondent for including General Dagblad, SBS6 and NPO Radio 1.
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