Carolina, while it’s true that Argentina is a major producer of soy, it’s also the case that probably over 95% of it, if not 99% of it, is under contract for export to the US, Europe, and apparently a lot to China, so it gets processed and sent out of the country. There’s such a small domestic market for it that the fresh beans are only rarely available – usually in Casa China along Arribeños, still on the vine – I’d say I see them maybe 4-5 times a year, usually in bags in the fresh vegetable section. In terms of name, they’re labeled “porotos de soja”.

Firs off, thank you for your great blog. It is extremely entertaining and infinitely useful! Planning to book a dinner there some time soon and looking forward to meeting you!

Please, oh please won’t you help me find edamame in Buenos Aires? Maybe I haven’t been looking hard enough, but you’d think that in a country where soy is so huge (granted, most of it is exported) it shouldn’t be that hard to find, right? I even went to Chinatown yesterday (all two blocks of it!) and scoured Casa China and Asia Central for fresh soybean, and took your recommendation to try Fujisan, hoping that a Japanese restaurant in Chinatown with such an extensive menu might offer something that is so common in Japanese joints in NY…and nothing. I even asked the waitress about it and she looked at me like I just asked if they had enriched plutonium (edamame? vaina de soja? fresca? que?).

Any advice?