Let Them Drink Jugo

When we first weighed the pros and cons of living with a host family, the fact that breakfast was included in our rent was something of a selling point. However, after arriving, we quickly came to realize that “breakfast” means something entirely different in Argentina. Whereas I generally like to eat a bagel or a bowl of cereal, Argentines are mostly content to drink juice and sip coffee in anxious anticipation of their lunch, which is almost always a gigantic, fatty, sizzling steak. Because we’re not much interested in eating steak at noon, Emily and I were originally a bit disappointed to discover that our breakfast would consist merely of juice. However, the juice is so spectacularly good that we’ve decided we wouldn’t have it any other way.

The fact is, not only do Argentines love orange juice, they love fresh squeezed orange juice. On most bustling street corners, there’s someone there to press you a fresh cup on demand. Granted, this is something of a luxury street food item––whereas sugar-coated peanuts cost $0.33 and a hot dog $0.66, fresh-squeezed orange juice will run you closer to $1. That’s right, you’ve got to really, really want it. But because so many of the drinks we’re familiar with (including coffee, beer, and, according to Emily, Diet Coke) are inferior to their equivalents at home, it’s pretty nice to have access to a variety of orange juice that beats the pants off of Minute Maid. This is why the sound of the juicer whirring every morning has become our new alarm clock. -NSH