What’s a Typical Argentine Breakfast?
After reading about the generous lunches of pizza and pasta and hearty dinners of steak, I thought breakfasts in Argentina would follow suit. Before we got here, I pictured heaping portions of sausage, eggs, and bread — maybe even some potatoes or ham.
Alas, to my disappointment, a typical breakfast in Argentina is a cup of coffee with milk (café con leche), a few croissants (medialunas), and a shot glass of carbonated water. Not exactly gut-busting, or even filling.
After two months in Argentina, I’ve gotten used to supplementing my hostel breakfast with fruit or yogurt to satiate my American desire for something more substantial.
It’s not just in cafes where I’ve found the breakfast a bit lacking. We’ve eaten at enough breakfast-included Argentine accommodations to know it’s universal. In hostels you’re lucky if the pastries or rolls are somewhat fresh, and you’ve really struck the jackpot if there’s cereal and milk, too. Even in a nice bed and breakfast we only got fresh rolls, jam, and coffee. It’s completely different from breakfast in Europe or the States; breakfast just isn’t a big deal here.
But with only 4 days left in Argentina, we decided to hit a cafe for one more typical breakfast. We went La Puerto Rico, a famous Buenos Aires cafe that’s been around since 1887 and is just a block away from the president’s offices (Casa Rosada). The medialunas were amazing — soft and fresh with just a hint of sweetness. The coffee was quite good, too, and the shot glass of water was slightly larger usually. The breakfast ended up costing about $10 US, which is twice as much as it would have been around the corner. But for the quality of the food, it was worth it.
Although it was far from well-rounded, my last Argentine breakfast was satisfyingly delicious.
My favorite, yet “strangest” breakfast at a hotel was in Germany. Breakfast included cold meat and cheese, although they did have cereal, yogurt, and other more “normal” things.
Have you had the chance to ask a normal Argentinian what they eat for breakfast?
Your post hit home in a way, because I have the reverse perspective. Having grown up in an Argentinean household, I still have no apetite for a substantial breakfast, even after living in the US for the past 30 years. A normal breakfast for us as kids was a glass of milk and toast; coffee and toast as grown ups. And by toast, I mean thin slices of toasted French baguette, with butter and jam, honey or dulce de leche. This was the case even on weekends, when we could take our time at the breakfast table. I love food, love to eat, but I’m not hungry enough in the morning to sit down to a big meal. Tell an Argentinean that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and they’ll just smile, shake their head and maybe tease you for being a “yanqui loca”.
hi everyone
I just wanted to tell you what we as Argentinian people consider a usual breakfast here. Actually most of us get up at 7 or 8 in the morning. We couldn´t even think of eating such substantial meals as European or American people are used to. We just don´t feel like it. Sometimes when I get up I almost eat nothing but a cookie and drink a cup of coffee with milk. the thing is that when it´s about 9.30 or 10 in the morning we start feeling a sensation of “starving to death” lol so we “devore” whatever is around us !! croissants, a packet of buiscuits, cereal bars, sandwiches are the most common things we consume at work or university..