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Welcome to the second part in our series. 
Remember, some of these may be huge generalizations, but that’s ok.
Random Observations: Week 2
- There is no sugar free Red Bull in the country. (Mersal is going through withdrawal.)
- There are (almost) no obese people in Argentina. There may be some people with pot bellies or a few extra pounds, but you do not see people who are extremely overweight like in the U.S. This is surprising because:
- There is an ice cream store every couple of blocks.
- There is a pastry store on almost every block and they use dulce du leche in almost everything.
- Most people eat dinner after 10pm.
- Everyone seems to love McDonald’s and Burger King. They are always packed and usually have really long lines.
- Speaking of lines - lines seem to move a lot slower here. This is probably why they have special lines that pregnant women can cut to the front of in most stores.
- Speaking of ice cream - the size of the ice cream cones here are ridicuously small, but they heap the ice cream onto these tiny little cones. The ice cream is delicious too.
- Purple is the color of the season (winter). All the stores have mannequins dressed in purple outfits. We have not bought anything purple yet.
- Restaurant observations:
- You seat yourself at most restaurants.
- Remember to say “con gas” (sparkling) or “sin gas” (flat) when ordering water.
- Every place gives you a huge bread basket before dinner.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Karine // Aug 14, 2008 at 6:35 am
Hi there
When you say “you do not see people who are extremely overweight like in the U.S. This is surprising..” it is not surprising to me. Having lived in the US, I do remember that Americans tends to eat junk food all the time, anytime of the day. Vending machines are everywhere also, which you don’t see in Argentina. And Argentines don’t eat junk food (almost never) at least not the Argentines I work with
2 DaVe // Aug 14, 2008 at 7:02 am
Karine - I guess “surprising” was not the right word, just unexpected based on the U.S. Plus, we see ice cream stores, candy in the kioscos, lines in McDonald’s, and pastry stores everywhere. I think it probably has a lot to do with portion sizes as well. We bought the “Grande” M&Ms in the Disco Supermarket and those would compare to the “King Size” bag at home, which is just slightly larger than the regular bag. Plus, bags of chips are incredibly small compared to the U.S. options.
My friend also commented that almost everything in the U.S. is sweetened with corn syrup. This is almost nonexistent in most other countries. Definitely another factor to consider.
3 Karine // Aug 14, 2008 at 8:05 am
Hi Dave - that’s so true about the portion sizes. After I left you the 1st comment I talked to my boyfriend about this posting and he mentioned that super sized meals in the U.S, portion sizes being bigger than here (or anywhere else in the world) also explain why. It’s true about the diversity of sweet things here, but I think if u don’t eat those all the time but occasionally it’s all good.
Oh and btw - I do enjoy ur blog also :=)
Cheers!
4 Melissa // Aug 19, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Ice cream and lines where pregnant women can move faster? Sign me up!
I am enjoying all of your random thoughts and we cannot wait to come for a visit! I won’t be pregnant anymore, but still up for ice cream.
5 Antsise Frixione-Conner // Oct 31, 2008 at 5:48 pm
They walk more down there… they don’t sit in cars at drive throughs every day…
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