🧑🤝🧑 Argentines
Also known as: Argentinians
The people of Argentina, a South American land of the pampas; their national pride is the milk caramel dulce de leche.
Argentines are the people of Argentina, a South American country with the vast plains of the pampas. In Argentina, a land of pampas and large-scale cattle raising, milk and dairy products are everyday food, and cow’s milk is the main kind. Dairy sweets hold a special place in the national cuisine.
The chief one is dulce de leche: milk and sugar are cooked down for a long time until the mixture thickens and turns golden brown. Its colour and aroma come from Maillard reaction products, melanoidins. Dulce de leche is spread on bread, added to cakes, pancakes and ice cream, and used in alfajores — biscuits sandwiched with this filling and often coated in chocolate.
The origin of dulce de leche is disputed. A popular Argentine legend dates its invention to the first half of the 19th century, but this is folklore, not a documented fact; neighbouring Uruguay also claims it as its own treat. Researchers describe dulce de leche as a popular product of the whole Río de la Plata region.
Argentines also drink mate, declared the national infusion by Law 26,871 in 2013. Yerba mate in a gourd is wetted with hot water, sipped through a bombilla and passed around; according to INYM, consumption averages 6.4 kg per person a year, and 30 November is National Mate Day.
How it connects to milk
🧑🤝🧑 Argentines → live in → 🌍 Latin America ← milked in ← 🐄 Cow → gives → 🥛 Milk
How it connects to Food traditions
🧑🤝🧑 Argentines ← tradition of ← Mate (Argentine tradition) → similar → Turkish tea (çay) → kind of → 🎎 Food traditions
Links
- Images and sayings
- 🥃 Fernet
- Where they live
- 🌍 Latin America
- Traditional products
- 🍯 Dulce de leche
- Traditions
- 🫒 Arauco, 🫒 Arbequina, 🫒 Barnea
- Traditions of this people
- Mate (Argentine tradition)
Frequently asked questions
What is dulce de leche?
A thick caramel “milk jam” made from cow’s milk and sugar cooked down until golden brown.
What are alfajores?
Biscuits sandwiched with dulce de leche, often coated in chocolate or desiccated coconut.
Who invented dulce de leche?
No one knows for sure; Argentina and Uruguay both claim it, and popular legends about its origin are not backed by documents.
What to read next
- Mate (Argentine tradition) — Argentina's national infusion under Law 26,871: yerba mate in a vessel, wetted with hot water and sipped through a bombilla, passed around the circle.
- 🥃 Fernet — Fernet is a bitter herbal drink made from herbs, roots and spices steeped in alcohol. Best known: Fernet-Branca (Milan, 1845); Fernet Stock has been made near Plzeň since 1927.
- 🫒 Arauco — An Argentine cultivar from La Rioja with large fruit for table olives; until the late 1990s, the country's main table cultivar.
- 🫒 Arbequina — A Spanish oil cultivar from Catalonia, where it covers more than 55,000 hectares; suited to super-high-density orchards.
- 🫒 Barnea — The leading cultivar of Israel's intensive olive orchards (25 %); also planted in Australia, New Zealand and Argentina.
Similar
🧑🤝🧑 Uruguayans · 🧑🤝🧑 Mexicans · 🧑🤝🧑 Spaniards
ℹ️ This page describes the people only through food: what they grow and make, and which foods and drinks matter in their traditions. History, language, religion and other parts of the culture are not covered here.
What it includes
- Traditional products