Food South America

Food Fest Buenos Aires

Photography by Samantha Demangate

Words by Matt Dursum

It’s spring and Buenos Aires is in a party mood. This season of fiestas, asados, and ferias will last until the blustering winter arrives—all 50° F of it. For now, everyone is living their best lives, gearing up to go out and stay out until dawn. It’s October 1st. My girlfriend and I head out to the Food Fest Buenos Aires to partake in the ceremonial start to the hot spring weekend and eat until we can barely move. 

Entering Hungry

Food Fest is Buenos Aires’  annual gastro-festival where some of the city’s newest arrivals in food and drink come to show off their stuff. Dozens of businesses from craft beer, wine, BBQ, vegan, and others set up to cook for hungry Porteños through the weekend. 

It’s early afternoon at La Rural fairgrounds in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. We run into the dusty venue, hungry and excited to eat. The sun is relentless and the crowds are steadily pouring in. Aromatic smoke billows out from the parrilla grills and moves in clouds through the fairgrounds. 

We begin doing our rounds. Our first stop is MAT Sabor Coreano, a small pop up that specializes in homemade kimchi. We order a Chori Pan Kimchi, a delicious Korean inspired take on the Argentine Chori-pan sandwich. We fall in love at first bite. The rich smoky chorizo sausage flavors infuse in the spicy umami of the kimchi. Oppressing our urges to order another, we continue on. 

Beers, Meat, and Techno

Argentina is famous for its wine but it also produces serious craft beer and artisanal gins. We begin our tour of the Food Fest’s beverages by sampling beers from Rabieta. The server pours us a Golden Ale and an IPA. Each beer is delicious with a light body, rich aroma, and frothy head of foam. 

We take our beers and do a couple of laps around the venue. Guests are lounging in the beanbag chairs set up around the central DJ booth. The venue’s floor is a fine dusty red sand that sticks to everything. People walk by us covered in red dust, casually dancing to Poolside-esque techno and eating.   

On our second lap we see a crowd forming around the smokey asado and parrillas of Asado Campero. The Asadores (grillers) hover around several parrilla grills fired by leña or firewood. The main contraption is a circular parrilla where stacks of carne asado are supported over the fire by chains. Smoke envelops the glistening meat after every drip of liquid fat that hits the coals. This medieval looking setup attracts a long line of customers, eager to try a slice. 

Like other hungry Argentine carnivores, we too step in line. We order a carne asado sandwich and load it up with chimichurri sauce, grab our beers, and head into the stands to gorge. The meat is incredibly smoky. Flavor runs through every bite. The acidity of the chimichurri cuts through the fatty meat perfectly. 

Wash it Down With a Little Sweet Berry Wine!

At this point, our beers aren’t cutting it. We need tannins and in Argentina that means dark red wine. We stop into the wine tent of Bodega Valle del Indio to satisfy our cravings. A rose of Malbec is what we start our tasting with. Balanced red fruit with a nice acidity, it’s the perfect pairing for the hot weather. Next up we’re poured a Bonardo, a lesser known red Savoyard grape that’s taken well to Argentina’s climate. We head back to the rafters to sip our wine and finish our meaty sandwiches.  

Full but not quite satisfied, we go in for some wine and more food. The venue’s giant Argentine flag waves proudly above us, as if giving us its blessing. We get in line at Muge, a small carniceria that specializes in high-quality beef. We order a portion of ribs doused in chimichurri and salsa criolla, fill up our glass with young Malbec, and grab a seat. Juice from the slab of smoked meat pours over our gloved hands—yes, we needed gloves for this. 

Winding Down

After our messy yet divine meat-filled journey at Food Fest Buenos Aires, we wanted to end the scorching afternoon with some refreshments. The perfect place to do so was at the Fika Arte Botanico stand. This online company sells everything for the home bartender from dehydrated citrus to gin infusions. They are pouring artisanal gin and tonics made with Buenos Aires Gin, made by Destileria Moretti. The cocktails are cold, strong, and herbal with beautiful citrus and spice aromas. We again head up into the stands, sit down, and sip on our drinks while people-watching. 

It’s now mid-afternoon and we’re finally full. On the way out, people crowd around a carnival dance troupe performing for a South American cultural event in the nearby venue. In Buenos Aires, it’s impossible to keep up with the festivities and we feel lucky to catch this outside public performance. Long feathers and sequence costumes move to the rhythmic pulse of Samba and Candombe drumming. We take in the scene for a while, feeling full, happy, and filled with music. Can this city get any cooler? We ask ourselves and almost simultaneously answer, “it’s only spring.”

For more photography by Samantha Demangate, visit her website at samanthademangate.com

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