Parrilla, pizza and pasta are the mainstays of Argentine cuisine, whether at home or when eating out. The parrilla is simply a barbecue, the national dish, served at special restaurants known as parrillas. Usually there's a set menu, the parrillada , but the establishments themselves vary enormously. At many, especially in big cities, the decor is stylish, the staff laid-back and the crockery delicate, and the meat is served daintily on a platter. Elsewhere, especially in smaller, provincial towns, parrillas are more basic joints, where you're served by burly, sweaty-browed waiters, who spend all their time grilling and carving huge hunks of flesh and hurling them onto your plate. Sometimes it seems as if everything's being done to stop you ever getting your teeth into a juicy tenderloin. Traditionally you start off by eating the offal before moving on to the choicer cuts but don't be put off - you can choose to skip these delicacies and head straight for the steaks and fillets. Either way, these places are not for the faint-hearted: everything comes with heaps of salads and mountains of chips. But the meat is invariably fabulous.

Mass immigration from Italy since the middle of the nineteenth century has had a profound influence on the food and drink in Argentina and the abundance of fresh pasta ( pasta casera ) is just one example of that. The fillings tend to be a little unexciting (lots of cheese, including ricotta, but seldom meat) and the sauces are not exactly memorable (mostly tomato and onion), and the pasta tends to be cooked beyond al dente , yet it's a reliable staple and rarely downright bad. Very convincing parmesan- and roquefort-style cheeses are both produced in Argentina, and are often used in sauces.

Pizzas are very good on the whole, though the toppings tend to lack originality. One popular ingredient will be unfamiliar to visitors - the palm-heart ( palmito ), a sweet, crunchy vegetable resembling something between asparagus and celery, is regularly used as a garnish. Argentine pizzas are nearly always of the thick-crust variety, wood-oven baked and very big, and meant to be divided between a number of diners. You might see some people liberally squirting ketchup or mayonnaise onto pizzas to liven them up, or perhaps Argentina's national condiment, salsa golf , a shocking-pink mixture of mayonnaise and tomato ketchup. Takeaway pizzerias are a thriving business all across the country.