Wharton Journal

Issue date: 10/2/06 Section: News

What do tango, steaks and Maradona have in common? These are the three things for which Argentina is best known around the world. Under the aegis of WHALASA, the Argentinean Community at Wharton is organizing a real Asado (traditional barbecue) for all Wharton Students on Saturday, October 7th.

This has become one of the most popular events at school, with last April's event selling out early and stretching capacity to over 270 people. Why is the event to so popular? Many reasons:

First of all, the food is great. We start with empanadas - traditional pastry filled with meat. Then we serve a barbecued sausage that we call chorizo. And beef, of course. We select the best meat and cook it in a "ceremony" that starts early in the morning.

As in true Argentinean fashion, the meat is all-you-can-eat. We start serving it at 1 p.m. and even at 5 p.m. some people are still asking for more. Dessert is another favorite because people love our "dulce de leche" (literally milk jelly) served with ice cream. I swear that serving the dessert is worse than bringing pizza to Pub because of the stampede of amateurs. Naturally, in case you were wondering, drinks are on the house all day.

Then it's lots of fun: the asado is a great moment to enjoy an outdoors event in the lush green environment of Fairmount Park, listen to great music - Argentinean - and hang out with your school mates from first and second year. There are sport activities going on for those who want to play football (the real version) or group game contests.

There is still more fun after food: the traditional "chupito contest" where first and second year match their drinking skills with blue and white shots reminiscent of the Argentinean flag Celeste y Blanco (blue and white). We have always a warm welcome for the first year students too... but we cannot divulge the secret here: you have to come and find out for yourselves.

In fact, the essence of the asado is really the tradition and not just the food. This is the way we have a barbeque at home in Argentina with our family or friends. Either on Saturday or Sunday, the asado would take up most of the day, as it's a moment to meet with family and friends, catch up with what's going on, talk about different stuff - football, economy, politics or family, wander around the table while eating, watch the Sunday football, read the newspaper or talk with people. When we meet for food we eat a lot, but food is just an excuse to meet. The sobremesa is the best part and last hours longer than eating.

At Wharton we are always overscheduled, almost to the point of taking pride in being busy all the time. For a few hours, let us try to recreate sort of this experience of socializing around food. See you all at the WHALASA Argentinean Asado!

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