What’s a vegetarian to do?
Jueves a la Mesa dinner guests
Living in meat country can be hard for a vegetarian like me. Argentina doesn’t exactly offer a plethora of variety when it comes to food. We’re not talking well-balanced meals here.
That’s why whenever a great vegetarian restaurant is presented to me I make a reservation. I love to support anything that celebrates the herbivore. Especially in Buenos Aires, where people like myself are few and far between.
Enter Jueves a la Mesa, a weekly dinner cooked and served by American expat Meghan Lewis at her home in the San Telmo barrio of Buenos Aires. It’s a 100% vegetarian three course meal. Each month includes two originally inspired menus, served two weeks in a row in the event that you miss it or want to come back for more. Last night’s theme was oriental flavours in recognition of Chinese New Year.
The menu
The food was delicious but the best part is that Meghan shares her recipes with her dinner guests. She is committed to spreading the benefits of a vegetarian diet. Her roommates help her cook and serve the meals and they do so with charm and flare.
Jueves a la Mesa operates like a closed-door restaurant: Reservations to join an intimate group of ten guests is required, and payment is accepted in cash only.
The starter
The main course -- there was a rice concoction that came with this... I forgot to take a photo of it!
Dessert, Meghan makes her own chocolate and it's delicious
Beautiful flower decorations
The company included Porteños, visitors, and expats like myself. I had a great time speaking with a visiting couple from Australia who were enjoying their last day in Buenos Aires before flying off to a wedding back home in Melbourne. I also met a lovely Argentine woman who now lives in Colombia who entertained me by talking about — wait for it — the weather.
Probably the most interesting was a young lady from Edmonton, Canada with a very large personality who has been living in Buenos Aires for one year. I was on the floor laughing when she reminisced about her first unfortunate experience at a Buenos Aires hair salon. Sufficed to say she ended up with a traditional Argentine mullet.
After dinner we headed to a bar in San Telmo for some beer. Wait, where's the beer?
However I have two criticisms about the evening. The first was the acoustics in Meghan’s apartment made it almost impossible to have a decent conversation. The room was small and voices became louder and louder until it was practically vibrating. The other was that most of the guests seemed to know each other and were friends with Meghan. When the guests have already formed exclusive cliques it makes it difficult for someone — on the outside — like myself to wedge their way in. Perhaps altering the table set-up so that people are forced to interact with individuals they don’t know would help make newcomers feel more comfortable and included.
Other than that I recommend that you make a reservation and check it out. It’s a lovely experience.
I’ve been meaning to check this out myself.. good to get your opinion on it. I just met Meghan on Wednesday (took her yoga class at Buena Onda). I don’t know anyone here so if the dinner guests all were already friends, I would feel a bit left out. Interesting. Happy to hear that you liked the food though!
That was my experience, it might not be yours. I tend to be a bit shy to begin with. Let me know if you would ever like to go for a beer!
I’d love to go for a beer, yes. I’ve been here for nearly a month now and haven’t even had a Quilmes.. My blood IS turning into Malbec though. They don’t call Koreans the Irish of the Orient for nothing (I heard that somewhere). On the vegetarian note, have you tried this delivery service? http://www.cocinaverde.com/ I might give it a go. I’m an aspiring vegetarian and mostly keep vegetarian, especially at home. Totally enjoying your blog. I almost snorted reading your post last night about Bruno.
Will PM you.
I haven’t indulged in the deliver service no, but now I might. Send me a message when you’re ready for a beer! Have fun, and talk soon.
As a fellow vegetarian, I sympathize with you in finding veggie options in a country whose staple is meat. Whenever I go back to Spain, I have the same problem in finding vegetarian choices.
It can be brutal, can’t it? I eat a lot of pasta and let me tell you I have gained a significant amount of weight and I run 25 km a week!
I’m not even a vegetarian really (though I don’t eat a lot of meat) but I would go to this all the time. I love food creativity and sharing of ideas! Yum!
Yeah there are many great closed-door restaurants in Buenos Aires. The idea alone is worth checking out.
Sounds like fun! She must have a large apartment to fit a table that size in it.
It was moderately sized, and she was a talented chef! I enjoyed it immensely.
Ugh! It’s the same in Chile. You say vegetarian and they are like, “Okay, how are about I give you this beef soup. It has lots of vegetables in it.” Once, on vacation in Montevideo, an expat friend and I took a picture of the vegetarian menu at a restaurant. It was literally: Ham sandwich, ham omelet, ham and cheese sandwich, salad with chunks of ham.
It’s a challenge to be a vegetarian here and that’s an understatement.
Well I am also a true and pure vegetarian. I have traveled many places where availability of vegetarian food was the biggest problem that I faced.
I feel your pain, trust me, I do.