Culture of Río de la Plata

Food and drink

  • Mate — A bitter infusion passed round a circle from one gourd through one metal straw, with a server, an order and a rule about saying thank you.
  • The asado — The Sunday barbecue that is not a meal but a ceremony: wood or charcoal, never gas; chorizo first; cuts named like wines; coarse salt and nothing else; and applause for the man at the grill.

Festivals and celebrations

  • Día del Amigo — On 20 July the phones in Argentina do not stop, the restaurants of Buenos Aires fill up, and friends give each other a flower or a cake. It started with a dentist watching the Moon landing.

Identity and society

  • Lunfardo — The slang born around 1880 in the conventillos of Buenos Aires, where Italian, Spanish and Polish immigrants lived: a thieves' jargon once, and now the way every porteño talks with friends.
  • Identity and society in Río de la Plata

Music and the arts

  • Tango — Music, dance and poetry from the port neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires and Montevideo: the breathing sound of the bandoneón, an invitation made with a nod, and lyrics in the slang of the tenements.

Literature and storytelling

Places and landscapes

History

Read