I struck conversation with an Italian hot dog vendor in the city, who told me something interesting. He said none of the Argentinean restaurants were owned by real Argentines, rather, he said they were owned and run by Egyptians. He went on to say other politically incorrect things, that I would rather not put on record.
Then I began to look closer and in fact, the waiters all looked more Egyptian than Argentinean. Plus, one of the restaurants could not even spell Argentina, spelled it Argantina a few times on a board and window. Very unlikely to be done by a proud platino.
Humor me, I know this is not a scientific research piece, I am aware my sampling is poor. I did not go into every single restaurant and ask for the staff's passports, but the few I looked at, looked more like they came from Cairo than Buenos Aires to me.
Ok, so the restaurants are run by Egyptians. That still does not answer why there are so many Argentinean eateries in the city. Why such popularity? And given such popularity, why no Argentines own and run the places to begin with. I have not found the answers there, or on the Internet.
Maybe somebody can research this and get a PhD from Yale.
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