The Food Difference: Australia vs Buenos Aires

There are things I love and hate about both of these countries but when it comes to food it's Argentina the bad and Australia the good.  It's not that you cannot eat good food in Argentina because you totally can, but it will cost you.  My hands-down favourite thing about my birth country is that even if you don't have a lot of money, you can still eat a huge range of beautiful fresh produce.  You can buy this food at the supermarket, or if you want it even cheaper you can go to a market for even more amazingly cheap and beautiful food.  Point in case recently at the South Melbourne markets where close to the end of trading on a Sunday I bought an avocado, a punnet of strawberrys and two bags of mushrooms for $4.50. Food is one of my favourite things, but aside from that it's a basic necessity and shouldn't consume your entire pay for the month.  Last night I enjoyed grilled salmon with a goat's cheese salad and couldn't be happier in the land of affordable food.

the good

The international independent film festival BAFICI is good.  Well actually, more than good.  There are over 400 films to choose from, in just under two weeks of cinema madness.  My favourite part is that the director is often there to talk about the film and answer questions afterwards, brilliant!  The other day I saw a film called Cooking History in which the cooks who fed the soldiers during many European wars as far back as World War 2, talked about their experiences whilst recreating the meals they used to cook, where they used to cook them.  These people were full of personality, amazing characters in a story that was very real.  The film ended with a man who used to cook on a military submarine that sank, cooking on the edge of the water.  As he cooked and told his story, the tide came in and rose so high that eventually, it swept away the food, the table, everything, and the man was left standing in the water alone.  He survived 14 hours in the water after the sub sank, and was the only one to make it.  A very moving and at times funny; visually and culturally rich film that takes a completely different perspective of war.