As fun as it is to discuss the minute details of grilling great beef, it’s important to keep in mind that there’s an entire industry behind the Argentine asado. This will be first of a series of posts specifically addressing the beef industry from both an Argentine and global perspective. While this blog will hardly be the definitive resource on the industry, the expectation is that it provide some interesting information that will help to better understand why Argentine beef and it’s grilling traditions are so special.
A good place to start is to look at the demand for beef in Argentina, measured by consumption. While I don’t have the exact figures or total confidence that this is a true story, I’ve heard it multiple times that in the 19th Century, beef was cheaper than wheat in Argentina. At the time it was also common for the large estancias to provide full room and board for its farmworkers. As a consequence, beef was served three times a day. This was the zenith of Argentine beef consumption, and thankfully for everyone’s cholesterol levels this level of consumption is now totally unheard of.
The overall trend has been for decreasing beef consumption throughout the last 100 years or so, but the levels still remain very high on a global scale. More precisely, in 1959 the average annual consumption in beef in Argentina was 222 pounds (100kg) per capita, a number which decreased to 129 (58.5)pounds in 2012. That’s a drop from a rather shocking 0.6 pounds (270 grams) a day to a mere 0.35 pounds (160 grams) a day. As a reference, the average in the United States was 57.5 pounds in 2012, but Argentina is no longer first in global beef consumption, a title now awarded to Uruguay.
There are two main reasons for this change have been an increasing in beef prices (to be discussed in another post) along with a shift of dietary preferences. Simply put, beef consumption has become more reasonable without actually dropping enough for Argentina to lose it’s place amongst the biggest consumers of beef in the world. This trend is unlikely to change drastically – I would argue that there’s a floor for beef consumption here because it so important culturally. If prices continue to go up perhaps there will be a drop in beef cooked at home during the week, but the asado will put up some resistance. And we can glad for that. Three square meals of beef a day isn’t what anyone needs, but it’s hard to say no to the weekly asado. That’s a dietary preference that isn’t ever going to go away, and we can all be glad for it.
– Thanks to Jennifer Grünwald for her research assistance
Steak Buenos Aires 