86 kilos of meat

Seriously Uruguayans. How do you eat so much meat?


This article says the expected number of slaughtered cattle for this year will be around 2.21 million. Whoooah. That's a lot of cows. Further more:

Uruguay's beef consumption per capita in 2009 is expected to reach 58 kilos and 86 kilos of all types of meat according to the latest estimates from the National Meat Institute (INAC).

86 kilos of meat per capita??!!


No wonder why you can't walk into a restaurant around here and not find some form of beef on the menu. A lot of Uruguayans have told me they eat beef everyday of the week, and I'm not surprised after living here for 7 months. Apparently you can never have too much beef.

Beef

I've decided to dedicate an entire week to posting about Uruguayan food, so stick with me to find out what scrumptious foods Uruguayans typically eat. First thing on our menu is beef. But you probably knew Uruguayan beef already.

Uruguay is world-famous for it's delicious beef from free-range, grass-fed cattle. Almost every restaurant serves beef. And in particular, there are parrilladas (BBQ grills) on every corner. But if eating out isn't your style, no worries, there plenty of butcher shops around too.

Uruguayans eat all of the cow. And I'm not kidding. I stick to the few cuts of beef I know and like, but if you can find it in a cow, you can probably find it grilling on the parrilla too. I've found entrecot, asado, bife de lomo, vacio, and costilla all to be safe and tasty cuts of beef. If you order anything else you risk getting served intestines, tongue, rump, kidney, testicles, or who-knows-what else. Some people love the full asado parrilada experience, but as for me, I'll stick to the less adventuresome "normal" cuts of beef.