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ABSTRACT
Asados, Argentine cook-outs or barbecues, to this day have a prestigious reputation within Argentine identity often due to its lasting association with the Gauchos—rural Argentine cowboys—who flourished in the nineteenth century shortly after the country’s independence from Spain. However, what is less known is how this quintessential dish, especially the well-done slow-cooked nature of the meat, is a rarely explored window to the past. I stipulate that the transatlantic, transcultural, and even transtemporal importance of this dish preserved by the Gauchos since the nineteenth century places them and their descendants as the hidden heirs of clandestine Moriscos—mostly crypto-Muslims forcedly converted to Christianity in the Iberian Peninsula—who settled in the least monitored area of Spain’s American colonies in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Moriscos knew how to mask certain actions while still holding strong to some former cultural and culinary practices. So too did the Gauchos as they were originally coined rebellious outlaws who did not want to fully conform and assimilate to the dominant culture. Perhaps in viewing their shared cooking styles we can see the often ignored history of Andalusi influence via Morisco practices in the Southern Cone.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. It has even found its way into the literature. See Luisa Valenzuela’s (Citation1975) short story “Vacío era el de antes”, for instance. See Marting (Citation2021), “Hunger Games in ‘Vacío era el de antes’ by Luisa Valenzuela” for an analysis of this text.
2. Certainly, not all Moriscos were alike. Throughout this article I refer to those who were indeed crypto-Muslim as opposed to genuine converts. For more on Moriscos, see scholars such as Luis Bernabé Pons (Citation2009), Los Moriscos: conflicto, expulsión y diáspora; Perry (Citation2005), The Handless Maiden: Moriscos and the Politics of Religion in Early Modern Spain; and Miller (Citation2008), Guardians of Islam: Religious Authority and Muslim Communities of Late Medieval Spain.
3. See also Dressendörfer (Citation1978), “Crypto-musulamnes, en la inquisición de la Nueva España”; Schwartz (Citation2008), All Can Be Saved: Religious Tolerance and Salvation in the Iberian Atlantic World; and Shohat (Citation2013), “The Sephardi-Moorish Atlantic: Between Orientalism and Occidentalism” for more on both the trials and the various religious dynamics in the Colonial Americas.
4. It is worth nothing that expats often resort to electric grills, though these are not the same. There are exceptions to this; for instance, large outdoor asados do occur, sponsored by various Argentine society gatherings for 9 July 9, Argentina’s Independence Day.
5. Among other sources, some of these methods are detailed in the Citation2016 documentary Todo sobre el asado, and episode 1, “Buenos Aires, Argentina,” (Citation2020) of the Netflix series Street Food: Latin America.
6. See Javier Irigoyen-García, (Citation2017), Moors Dressed as Moors: Clothing, Social Distinction, and Ethnicity in Early Modern Iberia for more on the complexity of distinguishing Morisco from Old Christian habits.
7. See López-Baralt (Citation1985), Huellas del Islam, among her other works, for the literary influences of Andalusi and Morisco material on that of Christian Iberians and consequently Christian colonizers.
8. While coincidental, it is curious that both of these scholars first fled to Argentina, of all places.
9. Daniel Balmaceda (Citation2016, 117) links Hernández with asados and Gaucho culture.
10. This one measures 122 × 185 inches, which is contrasted with roughly 8 × 10 inches of the other paintings from his first collection.
11. For an overview of this time period in modern-day Argentina, see Borucki, Viviana, and Fabrício (Citation2021), “An Introduction to Colonial and Nineteenth-Century Rio de la Plata.”
12. For more on Muslim colonial and immigrant roots in the Americas, see Khan (Citation2015) Islam and the Americas. For a look at Islam in Argentina, see Montenegro (Citation2015) “Institutionalizing Islam in Argentina: Comparing Community and Identity Configurations.”
13. For more on Syrian and Lebanese immigrants to Argentina, see Hyland (Citation2017), More Argentine Than You: Arabic-Speaking Immigrants in Argentina. For instance, he explores other poems and written works of immigrants that showcase the appropriation and admiration of Argentine symbols and customs as their own.
14. See Fuchs (Citation2011), Exotic Nation: Maurophilia and the Construction of Early Modern Spain.
15. There is also the tradition of the moros y cristianos festivals that also took place in the colonies and in some areas are still practiced, asin Spain. See Catala-Perez (Citation2012), “La fiesta de Moros y Cristianos: herencia cultural compartida entre España y América Latina.”
16. See also Civantos (Citation2013), “Ali Bla Bla’s Double-Edged Sword: Argentine President Carlos Menem and the Negotiation of Identity.”