Asado, national language

Saturday was the chinese new year, and like any argentine, Karina born chinese, organised an asado to celebrate. Asado, translate barbecue (grillade) but actually not don't translate barbecue please or you'll break the heart of everyone here! So why is an asado so different than a regular bbq I can see your eyes rolling with despair? First of all the meat here is known to be one of the/the best in the world, and the way the meat is prepared and cooked is special (I leave it to experts to explain, I am not known to be a meat cook). But also asado is much more than that, it's a cultural thing, a social event.

So saturday night, a dozen people (+7 kgs of all if kinds of meat!) mainly argentines, it was therefore time for me to put to use the spanish skills I obtained after my first week of spanish classes. As Iwent on explaining (vainly and thus re-enforcing) my frustration of not being able to speak as well as I wished, I raised the cultural dimension of things. I believe that it is crucial to know the language well (perfectly...?) if one hopes to understand the people of the country, and share their culture. Being able to communicate and understand each other's words is certainly not enough I said. The Argentines did not agree. They have a very deep understanding of what it is to be a foreigner. In Argentina, almost everyone is son or grandson of an immigrant and therefore to them feeling like a stranger in Buenos Aires goes against the nature of the place. Accents, cultural differences, color of the skin, are all part of being Porteno and doesn't matter as long as we can communicate...and more importantly share an asado! This is key to everything! If you can share an asado with the Argentines, this is it! You paved your way to their community. Can you imagine if in France friendship and integration was as easy as a plateau de fromage?

I warn you though damned vegetarians, beware! No matter how good you spanish might be, you will never win the heart of the Argentines...

Comments

[Vero]

I am loving it!!!

And stop complaining about your spanish - i am sure you r already more than perfect!

I can already invision you coming back to france and turning into this meat-loving-no-salads-person haha

[alice]

I'm hungry !!! I WANT an asado !!!!!!