I should have mentioned this weeks ago and admit that as a travel blogger I dropped the ball.Argentine residents and some tourists found themselves in a gastronomic predicament for three weeks last month.
Argentine farmers went on strike in March after President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner imposed a tax on exports of grains in an effort to protect consumers from inflation. The tax sparked a nationwide strike by farmers who were angered by the tax and argued it would artificially curb inflation and reduce their profits.
The result was hundreds of roadblocks throughout the country, which led to a beef and dairy products shortage. The photo above was a picture I took at a grocery store in Mendoza around March 30. Argentines are among the largest consumers of beef in the world and the shortages of meat left many in a quandary about what eat. Some Argentines I spoke to said they were eating a lot of pizza.
The strike ended April 2 when farm leaders agreed to start talks over the matter. Whether they come to an agreement is less clear. Residents I spoke to during this time were in disagreement as to whether the tax idea was a good one. And at least a few claimed the strike was more to do with the president's gender than the policy itself.
Argentine farmers went on strike in March after President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner imposed a tax on exports of grains in an effort to protect consumers from inflation. The tax sparked a nationwide strike by farmers who were angered by the tax and argued it would artificially curb inflation and reduce their profits.
The result was hundreds of roadblocks throughout the country, which led to a beef and dairy products shortage. The photo above was a picture I took at a grocery store in Mendoza around March 30. Argentines are among the largest consumers of beef in the world and the shortages of meat left many in a quandary about what eat. Some Argentines I spoke to said they were eating a lot of pizza.
The strike ended April 2 when farm leaders agreed to start talks over the matter. Whether they come to an agreement is less clear. Residents I spoke to during this time were in disagreement as to whether the tax idea was a good one. And at least a few claimed the strike was more to do with the president's gender than the policy itself.
Many tourists didn't even realize there was a strike going on until it was well into its third week. Budget travelers seemed to notice it first because they were hitting up the grocery stores more often. For example, the day before I took that photo Adrian and I had a lovely dinner where we both had meat. Meanwhile, residents trying to buy meat at the grocery stores were finding empty shelves.
My favorite news source - Bloomberg News (where I worked over the summer as an reporter/intern covering the commodities market) reported today that fires started by farmers burning their fields for grazing has led to a smoke-filled Buenos Aires. Click here to read the story and find out how this is related to the strike.
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