Like most people on a public holiday in Mendoza, I went to a friend’s house in the mountains for lunch. Although this was no usual Argentine lunch: there was sunshine, pleasant conversation and plenty of great food but one thing was missing… Where is the usual bucket-load of meat? Welcome to Mendoza’s underground green scene.
In a country where you are brought up on not only your mother’s teat but practically that of a cow too, eating meat is part of the culture and heritage and meat-eaters form the gaucho-esque, international stereotype of an Argentine. But Mendoza’s conscientious younger generations are moving towards an altogether different trend: vegetarianism and animal rights.
“I couldn’t imagine being a vegan before, especially as an Argentinean,” admits 31-year-old father Alejandro Prieto. I am joining Alejandro and his vegetarian friends Valentin and Ana for a vegan lunch in the peaceful countryside. Alejandro, a vegetarian for five years and a vegan and animal rights activist for the past two, is expertly preparing a lunch of Mediterranean-style quinoa and roasted vegetable kebabs. “I didn’t realise that there would be so much variety in vegan food,” he says chopping the meaty tomatoes.
Alejandro came to vegetarianism after his doctor recommended cutting out red meat for six weeks due to health problems. Surely enough his health improved, he gave up smoking and he started to feel much better. The more spiritual and political road to activism and veganism soon beckoned. “I started reading about intensive farming and learned about the immoral ethics of it,” he explains while washing a mound of colourful vegetables. “The problem is having the animal as a commodity; it is slavery of animals.”
Alejandro was one of the first of his friends to give up the red stuff but as he became more committed to the cause he has been campaigning locally and raising awareness of animal cruelty and the ecological impact of meat-eating on the planet. He began a facebook group for vegetarians and vegans in Mendoza, and met Valentin and Ana through the 200-strong group.
“It is still a very virgin movement in Argentina, but I think the conscience of the people is changing,” said 22-year-old musician Valentin. A few years ago there was no infrastructure for vegetarians in Mendoza, but now there are a handful of vegetarian restaurants and health food shops and finding alternatives to meat (such as soya) is getting easier. The acceptance of society though is lagging.
“It is difficult for my family,” explains 22-year-old University student Ana. “My mother always prepares food for me, but they don’t understand why I am a vegetarian.
We have always been animal lovers, so I never understood why we could eat cows but not our pets. I never got a good answer.” Ana travelled parts of Argentina and saw how some cattle were treated and vowed not to eat meat again.
All three of them extol the virtues of a vegetarian diet on your body and clearly hold animal rights close to their hearts but what perhaps surprises me is their commitment to the ecological benefits that a meat-free diet will have on the world. Alejandro starts to tell me about one’s ‘water footprint’ (a new eco-calculation focussing on the world’s water shortage and some people’s excessive consumption of it). “For every pound of beef you eat, you use 1,500 gallons of water to produce it,” explains a slightly aghast Alejandro. When you compare this to a salad, which only uses 31 gallons of water, or a baked potato, which uses meagre 7 gallons, you can see that perhaps meat diets are using more than their fair share of water. Although the question niggles in my mind whether cows would require this much water whether they are eaten or not…
Alejandro hopes that with the factors of health, animal rights and ecology on their side, the vegetarians of Argentina can make a difference to the population’s meat consumption. But more realistically, he adds, it will surely be the rising price of carne that slows down the country’s consumption. Either way, in the eyes of Mendoza’s vegetarian movement – something has to give.
As I slurped thoughtfully on my herbal tea, Alejandro announces that it is time for lunch. We sit outside in the sunshine to eat a delicious vegan meal: fresh rocket and seed salad, quinoa with sun dried tomatoes and olives, and roasted vegetable, basil and mango kebabs. Really very tasty and angelic food. I have to admit though, I am too carnivorous to give up meat completely, but if I could eat like this everyday I can see that veganism could be an attractive option. At least for six days a week.
To join ‘Vegetarians and Vegans of Mendoza’ visit
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=62476066343&ref=ts
To see your water footprint:
awesome.good.is/transparency/web/trans0309walkthisway.html
The Mendoza Sun, written by Amanda Barnes (Contributing Author), photos by Amanda Barnes.
Amanda Barnes is a freelance writer currently living in Mendoza. For more information, visit www.amandabarnes.co.uk or click here to see her profile.
