🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Uruguayans

Uruguayans are the people of Uruguay, a small South American country between Argentina and Brazil. In Uruguay, as in neighbouring Argentina, cattle raising has long been the backbone of the economy, and dairy farming remains a significant industry. Cow’s milk, cheese and butter are everyday foods, and milk-based sweets are loved by all generations.

Uruguayans consider dulce de leche their national treat. It is made by cooking milk with sugar for a long time until it becomes a thick caramel mass; its colour and flavour come from Maillard reaction products. Dulce de leche is eaten with a spoon, spread on bread and biscuits, and added to cakes, pancakes and alfajores.

The argument over where dulce de leche originated — Uruguay or Argentina — is old and often good-humoured; there are no reliable documents that settle it. Researchers describe the product as shared by the Río de la Plata region, and in both countries it is made both at home and industrially.