Learn Spanish and Eat Well in South America (part I)

One of the most difficult things about trying to learn Spanish while travelling around South America is that people in different places use different words to describe the same thing.
This is especially true when it comes to food, and it isn’t helped by the prevalence of certain foods in certain countries. In Argentina you will find dozens of words for describing different cuts of meat that you didn’t even know existed. On the other hand, if you go to a market in Peru or Bolivia you will realise that your Geography teacher wasn’t kidding when he said that there were thousands of varieties of potato in the world.
Of course, being a fearless traveller (ahem), I have bravely tried different foods and often found myself swallowing my pride along with the local food as I have tried in vain to work out what things actually are. Here are some of my favourite, “but what is it?” menu items.
Chivito, Uruguay. This is the national dish of the country and I only tried it because I had left my dictionary in the hotel. If I had looked it up I would seen that “Chivito” actually translates as “little goat”. Before you brand me a kid-eating fiend I should point out that the name is actually deceptive and that it is really beef.