Argentine beef

Beef is a key component of traditional Argentine cuisine. In 2019, Argentina was the 4th largest producer of beef, with a production of 3 million tons (only behind the US, Brazil and China).

Cattle were first brought to Argentina in 1536 by Spanish conquistadors. Due to the geography of the Pampas and a small national market, the cattle multiplied rapidly, with some contemporary observers describing the animals as a menace.

In 1785, British whalers established a beef-salting industry in Buenos Aires. The salted beef was sold on the domestic market as tasajo and exported to Europe in limited quantities. In the 19th century, Buenos Aires would develop into a cattle-processing complex of stockyards, warehouses, and meat-salting facilities. The Anchorena family of Basque immigrants were influential in the 19th century cattle industry in Argentina.

Railway building within Argentina and the invention of refrigerated trains and ships in the late 19th century made an export market and Argentina's beef export industry started to thrive. From 1864 to 1888, the number of cattle in Argentina increased from just over 10 million to nearly 23 million. Argentina exported 32, 300 tons of beef in 1876–1880, which increased to 34,400 in 1886–1890. The development of a strong beef export industry in Argentina took a long time to develop due to several factors, including the slow development of a refrigerated meat industry, competition from American beef producers, and low demand for animal foodstuffs in Europe.

The flipped seasons between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres meant that Argentine beef came onto the market at a time of year when beef was less at hand in the Northern Hemisphere, which further lifted the potential export market in the United States and European markets.

Following the rising demand for high-quality beef, new breeds and selective crossbreeding have been developed.

Argentine beef and its production have played a major part in the culture of Argentina, from the asado to the history of the gauchos of the Pampas. Landowners became wealthy from beef production and export, and estancia owners built large houses, important buildings in Buenos Aires and elsewhere, and contributed to politics, philanthropy, and society. The agricultural show La Rural each winter in Buenos Aires became a major part of the social season since it started in 1886.

In Chile, heightened taxes for the import of Argentine cattle in 1905 led to the meat riots, one of the first massive protests in Santiago. The price of meat was kept artificially high by the government, by means of the combination of a special tariff applied to cattle imports from Argentina, to protect the domestic producers, and a runaway inflation. The riots lasted from October 22 until October 27, and between 200 and 250 people were killed over this period, while more than 500 were injured. The financial losses were staggering. This revolt emphasized that the social problems were far more serious than what the authorities believed.