Culture of Argentina
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The culture of Argentina is as varied as the country's geography or its ethnic mix.
Argentine culture has been primarily informed and influenced by its European roots. Buenos Aires is perhaps the most Europe-like place, due both to the prevalence of people of Italian and Spanish descent and to conscious imitation.
Buenos Aires and other cities show a mixture of architectural styles imported from Europe. In the case of older settlements (and of older preserved neighborhoods within cities), modern styles appear mixed with colonial features, relics from the Spanish-ruled past.
Museums, cinemas and galleries are abundant in all the large urban centers, as well as traditional establishments such as literary bars, or bars offering live music of a variety of genres.
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Cinema
Argentine cinema has achieved international recognition, though it has only rarely been taken into account by mainstream popular viewers who prefer Hollywood-type movies. Even low-budget productions, however, have obtained prizes in cinema festivals (such as Cannes). The city of Mar del Plata organizes its own festival dedicated to this art.
Music
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The best-known element of Argentine culture is probably their music and dance, particularly tango. In modern Argentina, tango music is enjoyed in its own right, especially since the radical Astor Piazzolla redefined the music of Carlos Gardel. It must be noted that while tango refers mostly to a particular dancing music for foreigners, the music together with the lyrics (often sung in a kind of slang called lunfardo) are what most Argentinians primarily mean by tango. Tango lyrics can be considered a kind of poetry.
Folk music and dance are popular in provincial Argentina, whether blends of European and pre-Columbian styles, like the chamamé of Misiones, or European folk-style like Basque or Welsh dance.
Since the 1970s rock and roll is also widely appreciated in Argentina. First during the 1970s and then again at the mid 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, national rock and roll and pop music experienced bursts of popularity, with many new bands (such as Soda Stereo and Sumo) and composers (like Charly García and Fito Páez) becoming important referents of national culture. National rock and pop then gave way to other genres, like the Argentine version of cumbia, together with ska, reggae, and variations of techno, Eurodance, electronica and the like. The variety of the musical outlook of today's Argentina is impossible to summarize in a short article; the opening up of the local market to international trade and the ready access to music downloaded from the Internet (most often illegally, through peer-to-peer networks) provide listeners with a diversity of choices.
Sports
Argentines are extremely involved in sports. Fútbol (soccer) is more of a national obsession than a game. Argentina won the World Cup in 1978 and 1986, and the exploits of Diego Maradona have kept fans, paparazzi and columnists busy for the past 10 years. Tennis, rugby and hockey are also important and Argentina won gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens for men's basketball. The rich, heavily influenced by English customs, have traditionally enjoyed polo and Argentina dominates this sport.
Language
Argentina's official language is Spanish (here usually named castellano). Most Argentinians live in the area of the River Plate basin (which extends north from Buenos Aires along the Paraná River), and the dialect spoken in this area (Rioplatense Spanish) is also recognized in the rest of the country.
Most Argentinians can understand standard spoken Italian and Portuguese, due to their relatedness with Spanish.
Some immigrant communities retain their language as a badge of identity, such as the Welsh community of Patagonia who have even held an Eisteddfod, as well as the Basques, Arabs and even Ukrainians. Recent immigrants from China and South Korea, who have established in large cities like Buenos Aires and Rosario, also speak their language among themselves, and some communities even publish small-circulation newspapers in them.
There are about 17 native languages spoken in different parts of the country, including Quechua, Mapuche, Guaraní, Toba and Mataco.
Gastronomy
Argentina is known for its asado of grilled beef. Meat (including entrails) is placed on a wire lettuce and cooked from below with natural wood and coal. There are establishments that serve asado only; a good local restaurant always has a physical spot set up to prepare asado.
Argentinians consume large amounts of beef. While the recent economic crisis made meat expensive for many, its price is still relatively low given its quality. Meat exports are usually regulated; the European Community has set up a quota of frozen meat imports that cannot be exceded.
Traditional foods of the provinces such as locro hark back to the pre-Columbian period, with a reliance on maize, beans and squashes (in many places, locro is traditionally consumed only on national patriotic holidays). Another traditional food is the empanada, a circular piece of pastry folded in two and closed with some filling inside (chopped meat, olives, hard-boiled egg, potato cubes, raisins, ham and cheese, and many other variants), which can be grilled or fried.
Italian staples like pizza and pasta are common. Many Argentinians choose a simple pizza with tomato, cheese and ham, but many complications are available. Pasta (in the local Spanish in the plural, pastas) is extremely common, either simple unadorned pasta with butter or oil, or accompanied by tomato sauce.
Sweets, especially dulce de leche, are popular. Dulce de leche (a dark brown fluid paste, made from milk and sugar stirred at very high temperatures) is an essential ingredient of cakes, shares the place of jelly and jam in breakfasts, and is used to top desserts and to fill alfajores and facturas (an alfajor consists of two round biscuits, often flavored, optionally coated with chocolate, joined by a layer of jelly; factura is the generic name for sweet baked pastry of different kinds, including but not limited to croissants and donuts).
Argentina is famous for its wine, most notably the red wine from the province of Mendoza, where weather conditions (dry, warm summers) are optimal. (Mendoza is in this respect similar to California in the United States.)
Literature
In terms of literature, Argentina's most famous authors are Jorge Luis Borges, considered one of the greatest 20th century writers of the world (he wrote poems, short stories and non-fiction essays), Adolfo Bioy Casares, and Julio Cortázar. Bioy Casares wrote some books in collaboration with Borges. Cortázar was voluntarily exiled in Europe during the rule of Juan Domingo Perón; Borges had problems with Peronism too, and saluted its fall in 1955 with joy, though he later became disillusioned with the military dictators. Both Borges and Cortázar died abroad: Borges in Geneva in 1986, and Cortázar in Paris in 1984.
Ernesto Che Guevara was an Argentine, born in Rosario. Besides his armed fight and his political involvement with Fidel Castro's government in Cuba, he wrote The Motorcycle Diaries, about his travels around Argentina and South America, which was turned recently into a movie.
Mafalda, a cartoon by Quino (Joaquín Lavado), became a world-recognized Argentine icon soon after its publication. The series of comic strips shows the world's troubles through the eyes of a small girl, Mafalda, and her relatives and friends.