At the events
space known as El Dorrego, in the barrio of Colegiales on the edge of
Palermo, the Feria – whose name comes from the Spanish word meaning “to chew” -
started on Friday and ended Sunday. I tried to go Saturday afternoon but, with
entry lines stretching longer than two blocks, I gave up and returned on Sunday
morning, when the lines were shorter. The idea of sampling modestly priced
small plates from chefs such as Martín Molteni (from Pura Tierra, one of my
favorite restaurants here), Germán Martitegui (of Tegui, below at right), the GAJO group and others was a
tempting one.
In practice, it didn’t work out quite so well. For one
thing, the crowds made it uncomfortable, for me at least; for another, almost
none of the stands accepted cash – rather, you had to buy at least 50 pesos’
worth of the Feria’s coupons, which were non-returnable. Most plates were in the 20 to 35 peso range
and, uncertain how much I might want to spend and eat, I simply refrained. For
me, that took the spontaneity out of the event.
It’s understandable that, in the midst of such crowds, it
was much simpler to manage a scrip-based system than wads of cash. As it
happened, the only thing I ate was a delicious dark chocolate cookie with
hazelnuts from the Compañía de
Chocolates, which was accepting cash.
That said, I found many admirable things at the Feria. There
was an abundance of quality produce and products on display, and the Ciudad de Buenos Aires
even had a public stand where visitors could check their weight and blood
pressure, and speak with a nutritionist. Still, at this event, the message only
reached a fraction of the local middle class, and will probably never reach the
urban
and rural poor whose meat and starch diet contribute to obesity, diabetes and
other ailments.
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