James Neilson on dollarisation

Very interesting article. I think I learned from it, but still have no educated guess about what to expect.

My wife mentioned this yesterday saying she hoped it would happen. I don't follow Argentine current affairs (far more productive and less depressing things to occupy my mind with to be honest) so I knew something was afoot for her to mention it.

My recollection of the last time this happened was how expensive things here cost compared to the UK. However the overall quality of products was far better then compared to today.

I'd love to be proved wrong but I still think the country is fooked no matter what happens.

Splinter , can you remember specific products? I’m curious as to whether there were certain categories of products that were of higher quality then?

We can really see the effect on imports, with the peso’s current dive. At the fish market, salmon is selling for 100% more than 9 months ago. And no one was buying.

Quote from Rice

We can really see the effect on imports, with the peso’s current dive. At the fish market, salmon is selling for 100% more than 9 months ago. And no one was buying.

I saw salmon last week IIRC it was 700 a kg. Even at that price I was tempted but refrained as I was worried it would be some pellet fed crap from Chile. So I stuck to the merluza instead....very nice it was too.

If you’re in the city on the day of one of the itinerants markets, there is one fishmonger with really fresh salmon. Of course it is from Chile, and I know nothing about your pellets, but it is delicious. This week, 580 pesos/kilo. Salmon ahumado is 300 pesos per quarter kilo.

There was a scare a while ago regarding farm reared salmon from Chile. According to what I heard the pellets they were feeding them contained too much dye which made the flesh too red. I believe algae bloom in the area the cages were located was above normal levels as well. Argentina was still receiving stocks from Chile when this was going on when they shouldn't have.

I used to enjoy the Chilean salmon then the quality declined (flesh was a strange colour and texture) around the same time this news broke so I stopped buying it. Similarly the quality of smoked salmon I used to buy in Vea went into decline as well.

I have no problem paying whatever they charge per kilo as long as the quality is decent enough. I'm used to eating Scottish farm reared salmon which is the best in the world so I guess my standards might be too high.

Good to know it's back to normal quality.

I can’t say that all of the salmon sold here is up to normal quality, but the vendor at the Palermo Saturday morning market has had excellent salmon for the 6-8 years we’ve been buying from him. Before that, we bought it at Ostramar on Av. Santa Fe. Their quality is also very high, though the prices are generally about 25% more for identical fish.

Quote from Splinter

I like salmon on the parrilla.

Sounds good, must try it.

I regularly cold smoke merluza then poach it in milk. It's very similar to smoked haddock.

Grilled salmon is fabulous! But our building doesn’t have a parrilla. If we started grilling in our living room, I’m afraid we wouldn’t be invited back to the party.