The Cheeses and Cusines of South America
Up until recently, there has not really been a cheese industry in South America, but that seems to be changing. While we have covered the dozen or so cheeses that are being produced there below, we are going to start out by giving you a glimpse of the cuisines of the countries that make up what we know today as the continent of South America.
Cattle farming is an industry that can be found in most South American countries, so eventual cheeses production seems a natural progression. With the introduction if immigrants from Spain, Portugal and Italy, some of the great cheese producing countries of the world, cheese making is starting to take hold in this diverse and storied region of the world. We'll start off by examining a little bit of the cuisine of each country, then as usual, we will give you a selection of cheeses now available from South America.
Latin American cuisine has basically received influence from all over the world, mixtures of the Native Americans, European immigrants, and African slaves. Other immigration waves, some resulting from wars, such as World War II, have also have a hand in this mixture, mainly in the form of immigrants from central and eastern Europe and from the east of Asia.
Cuisine of Argentina
The cuisine of Argentina is strongly influenced by Italian and Spanish cuisines and cooking techniques. Indigenous groups such as the Quechua, Mapuche, and Guarani have also played a role. Argentina is one of the world's major food producers. It is a major producer of beef, wheat, corn, milk, beans, and since the 1970s, soybeans. Given the country's vast production of beef, red meat is an especially common part of the Argentine diet. Due to the very large number of Argentines of Italian ancestry, pizza and especially pasta are also very popular, and now cheese, but there are food traditions from other European nations as well, including the English afternoon tea.
Cuisine of Brazil
Cuisine of Chile
Chilean cuisine stems from the combination of traditional
Spanish cuisine with indigenous ingredients. Further European immigration also brought with them various styles and traditions in cooking heavily influencing the cuisine of Chile such as the Italian, German and English. These mixtures have created a fusion. Seafood is widely used and an array of produce which historically has grown throughout the region have been implemented into Chilean gastronomy. Many recipes are accompanied and enhanced by Chilean wine such as Curanto.Cuisine of Colombia
The cuisine of
Colombia consists of a large variety of dishes that take into account the difference in regional climates. For example, in the city of Medellín the typical dish is the bandeja paisa. It includes beans, rice, ground meat or carne asada, chorizo, fried egg, arepa and chicharrón. It is usually accompanied by avocado, tomato and sauces. Inland, the plates resemble the mix of cultures, inherited mainly from Amerindian and European cuisine, and the produce of the land mainly agriculture, cattle, river fishing and other animal raising. Such is the case of the sancocho soup in Valledupar and arepas, a corn based bread like patty.Cuisine of Peru
Peruvian cuisine is considered one of the most diverse in the world and is on par with
French, Chinese and Indian cuisines. In January 2004, The Economist said that "Peru can lay claim to one of the world's dozen or so great cuisines," while at the Fourth International Summit of Gastronomy Madrid Fusión 2006, regarded as the world's most important gastronomic forum, held in Spain, Lima was declared the "Gastronomic Capital of the Americas."Thanks to its pre-Inca and Inca heritage and to Spanish, Basque, African, Sino-Cantonese, Japanese and finally Italian, French and Britain immigration, Peruvian cuisine combines the flavors of four continents. Suffice it to mention that along the Peruvian coast alone there are more than two thousand different types of soups and more than 250 traditional desserts. The great variety in Peruvian cuisine stems from three major influences:
1. Peru's unique geography. The country boasts 84 of the 104 possible life zones.
2. Peru's openness and blending of distinct races and cultures.
3. The incorporation of ancient cuisine into modern Peruvian cuisine.
Cuisine of Uruguay
Cuisine of Venezuela
Due to its territory, its diversity of agricultural resources and the cultural multiplicity of the Venezuelan people,
Venezuelan cuisine often varies greatly from one region to another but its cuisine, traditional as well as modern, has strong ties to its European ancestry (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French).The Cheeses
Argentine Reggianito |
Argentine Sardo |
Black Wax Parmesan  |
Catupiry |
Chanco |
Chilarti |
Guayanés |
Holland Mill Uruguda  |
Magnasco Flavored Edam Cheese  |
| Magnasco's Hard Grana Provolone  |
Minas |
Panquehue |
Queijo Coalho  |
Requeijão |
San Ignacio Blue  |
Sources
thenibble.com,farmland.org
All the cheeses found in this article are from www.igourmet.com, and we highly recommend them for all your gourmet food needs.