海角大神

Heading down Lisandro de la Torre street in south Buenos Aires at dawn on a weekday, it鈥檚 hard to believe Argentina no longer reigns as South America鈥檚 beef-eating king.
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People crowd around butcher shops that line both sides of the road for half a mile, eyeing carcasses that hang in open entrances. Customers order popular cuts of ribs and flank steak just a few yards away from one of South America's largest cattle markets, where bulls, cows, and calves crammed into pens are auctioned off to slaughterhouses.
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But, as the New York Times reported last week, Argentina is no longer top dog. In 2010, Uruguay replaced its neighbor across the R铆o de la Plata at the summit of the beef consumption league.
The average Argentine ate 123 pounds of beef last year, compared to 132 pounds in Uruguay (though figures for 2013 so far show Argentina is closing the gap).

Just don鈥檛 mention this development to 辫辞谤迟别帽辞蝉 鈥� the residents of Buenos Aires known across the region for their brazen pride. 鈥淔orget it. It鈥檚 a lie,鈥� says Roberto P茅rez, standing outside one of the butcher shops on Lisandro de la Torre. 鈥淭he amount of meat we eat here is savage. There鈥檚 no country that compares with Argentina."
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And it can certainly feel that way sometimes. The statistics tell one story, but daily life reflects another.

In his workshop in the provincial city of Bah铆a Blanca, carpenter Juancho Jim茅nez regularly loads the grill with cheap skirt steak, eaten off wooden slates with friends who supply the modest accompaniment of sliced tomato and fresh white bread.
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On Sundays, that scene is mirrored in thousands of households across the country. Families gather for asados 鈥� or barbecues 鈥� feasts of red meat and conversation. At no-nonsense steakhouses in working class neighborhoods, groups of men lunch outside with plates of beef and tumblers of red wine mixed with soda water.
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A number of factors are responsible for the fall in Argentina鈥檚 beef consumption since 1956, a record year听in which the average person here ate 222 pounds. They range from state intervention in agriculture and reduced cattle stocks, to the profitability of soy farming and rising costs for consumers.
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But as long as cows roam the Pampas, Argentina鈥檚 beef-eating culture will never die.