Health Food Shopping in Buenos Aires

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Vegetarian in Argentina I grew up in a very health conscious family. In addition, my dad is practically vegan, so meat was not a common dinner choice in my house. Therefore, upon moving to Buenos Aires, my diet was dramatically altered. When living in a country saturated with the best steak in the world, you can’t help but eat a lot of it! It is basically the staple food here, and I quickly began to crave my lighter, veggie and tofu dishes every once in a while.

But where do you find tofu and other healthy choices in this meat driven country? The Dietéticas are the answer for tofu and many other health conscious options. They have gluten free foods, organic sugar, brown sugar, dried fruits, quality jams, peanut butter (a staple on the top of many Americans’ grocery lists), beans, spices, vitamins and remedies. There are many more options and many different sizes of Dietéticas. Every store I have seen has been on the smaller side, but don’t judge the store by its size. One of my favorite Dietéticas is so small, you can hardly move if more than five people are in the store at a time!

While I love the Dietéticas and healthier foods, I am not recommending you avoid the steak! Most people eat more meat than I do and will be in heaven in Argentina. There is nothing wrong with that either. However, I have to recommend that everyone try the tofu here at least once. You already know that the Argentines have figured out how to produce the best steak ever.

However, they have also figured out how to make the best tofu ever. It is much firmer than all of the tofu I have found in the United States. In addition, they have great rice noodles available at the Dietéticas. With a mango sauce, some veggies, tofu and rice noodles, you can prepare your own vegetarian meal every once in a while. Therefore, even though the steak is astounding, set at least one night aside for a tofu cuisine!

One Comment

Zoe on September 9, 09

Hi, I am living in Buenos Aires for 5 months. I’ve been her for 6 weeks already, but similarly to you I grew up in a very health conscious family with vegetarians and it’s pretty hard to find good quality food down here. How do I find these Dieteticas? I live in San Telmo…if you have a list of stores or something that would be great!

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