Que Rico!

When Argentinians want to say that food is delicious, they say "Que Rico!" (It's so rich!). I heard this phrase alot, because people would use it to recommend that I try specific restaurants or certain dishes.

I soon discovered that the phrase is an interesting cultural Rorschach test because, though my conversation partner intended it as the highest praise, I didn't hear it that way at all. My American brain, influenced by our health-conscious society, went through an immediate and highly consistent chain of associations...

"rico" = rich = fatty = greasy = unpleasant = unhealthy

...and, assuming that my conversation partner was actually warning me AWAY from a dish, I would spontaneously start making an "oh that's too bad!" face.

Long after I learned that "rico" is actually a term of praise, I remained stuck in this associative chain. It probably made me an odd and slow conversation partner, because I would have to go through the whole rico-rich-fatty-ick-unhealthy-disappointed face routine before I could arrive at the speaker's real intention, and put on a happy face!

While I'm talking about food, I should probably tell you what they eat here - and, in brief, it's Italian food along with some unique Argentinian contributions. As I mentioned in another posting, Argentina (and in fact the whole Rio de la Plata confluence) was enormously impacted by immigration from Italy in the early 20th century; today, 70% of the people living in Buenos Aires are of European and primarily Italian descent. "Normal" food is therefore pasta, pizza, empanadas, and asada (or grilled meat). The pasta is better than I knew pasta could be, and so fresh that restaurant menus routinely have separate food categories on their menus for "House Pasta" (i.e., made here) and "Dry Pasta" (we bought it). On the 29th day of the month, it's customary for Argentinians of all economic levels to have gnocchi for dinner: those potato dumplings are cheap and filling so they became the traditional dish for making your paycheck stretch the final days until payday. One day I was walking past a restaurant and happened to see gnocchi among their list of specials on their chalkboard. My instant thought was - "oh yeah, I guess it IS the 29th" - and in the next moment, I felt like such a local!