The Great Food Festivals of Argentina

The pride of all Famaillá in Tucumán can fit inside the palm of your hand. This small town in northwestern Argentina has hosted the annual National Empanada Festival for 40 years. 

Empanaderxs (empanada makers) must follow a series of rules in order to reign the champion: Empanadas must have the traditional flank meat filling, baked in a wood-fired clay oven, and sealed with 13 repulgue folds.

This celebration of the wine, harvest, and winemaking industry takes place during the first week of March in Mendoza, Argentina's premier wine country. Every year hundreds of dancers and musicians perform in a parade, and the "Reina Nacional de la Vendimia"  is selected, the National Harvest Queen. The origins of Mendoza’s harvest celebration can be traced back to the 17th century, and it has even ranked in National Geographic’s Top World’s Harvest Festivals. 

Majestic Andes mountains, pristine lakes, and incredibly scenic views, Bariloche might just be one of the most breathtaking destinations in all of Argentina. The region’s brightest culinary talents head to the Patagonian city to partake in a week of workshops and special restaurant menus. 

The highlight of the week is the open-air food fair at the main square in downtown Bariloche. Dozens of local restaurants set up stands and artisans sell their specialty products in the food market. One of the highlights of the event is the La Carbona food truck, serving Patagonian-style steamed buns filled with trout or lamb.

In July, Chicoana in Salta hosts the annual Festival Nacional del Tamal, the National Tamale Festival. Cooks, who make tamales with generations-old recipes, compete in a contest of the festival’s best tamales. In addition to eating tamales and listening to musical performances, three days are dedicated to traditional horse riding, where the best trainers in the country come for the National Dressage Meetup. 

2020 marked the 37th year of the Festival de la Sierra-Encuentro del Folclore y el Salame in Tandil, a town known for its salami and cured meats. The salami is paraded through a crowd of thousands, who also come to watch folklore musicians and dancers perform. 

Each year they attempt to beat the previous year's record and make the longest salami in the world. Last year, the salami measured 99.5 meters long and weighed about 278 kilos. 

This food festival at the end of the world started in 2019 to celebrate Tierra del Fuego’s incredible gastronomy and ingredients, like king crab, mussels, trout, lamb, salicornia, and Patagonian toothfish. This festival seeks to show all of the natural edible wonders that come from Argentina’s southernmost region, which tend to be somewhat unknown to the rest of the country.

Every year in Córdoba, thousands flock to the World Choripán Festival to compete in the ultimate sausage fest. Dozens of grill carts sling nearly 500 choripanes, and enter to win bragging rights of the best chori in the country.  

The choripán is an important part of everyday Argentine life. This popular sandwich consists of two simple ingredients: Grilled chorizo sausage (known as “chori”) in between a bread roll ("pan").

Here, the top restaurants in the country set up stands and serve dishes at affordable prices while artisan food producers sell their goods at the Masticar Market. There’s also a series of workshops, live cooking demonstrations, and seminars. 

“Eating well is good for you.” That’s the slogan at Feria Masticar, the four day food fest that is one of the biggest and most important gastronomic festivals in the country. The best chefs, foods, dishes, and ingredients that Argentina has to offer can all be found at this massive fair in Buenos Aires.

The National Lamb Festival is a popular festival that takes place in Puerto Madryn, in northern Patagonian, a coastal town in the Chubut province. This festival shows Argentine traditions, especially in the Patagonian countryside, with events like horse riding, sheep shearing, and of course, roasted lamb grilling. Dozens of lambs are cooked on an iron cross, stuck in the ground, and grilled over an open fire. 

Barbecue grills line the streets, 24 to be precise, each representing the country’s 23 provinces (plus the city of Buenos Aires), to compete in the Federal Barbecue Championship. Two grillmasters represent each province and must prepare cuts of beef traditional to the Argentine grill: flank steak, beef ribs, rump, and chorizo sausage. The winner brings back the ultimate barbecue bragging rights to their home state.