Cravings are often connected to pregnancies, aren’t they? Well I’m not pregnant (been there done that), but cravings I do have, probably connected to the fact I’m far away from home, deprived from certain types of food or certain dishes. If you would have asked me about this a year ago, I could have made you a whole list of cravings, but I guess that, over time, one gets used to the absence, or maybe one just forgets what his favorite dish tastes like.  But I didn’t get rid of them completely, these cravings for impossible things. This time it is pâté de fois gras. But the good news is : I know a place where they have it : La Bourgogne!

So for weeks and weeks I have been giving my husband hints ; “let’s have lunch at LB”, “let’s have Pâté de fois gras at LB”. Just one dish, that’s all I needed! But he pretended not to hear or understand me.

But then he got tired of my whining and we finally went to have just one course at Buenos Aires’ best restaurant. As usually it was quite empty -one would wonder how a restaurant like this can survive when it’s hardly ever full. The waiter first offered us water. Evian. Honestly, I love Evian. Whenever I am in France, if I can I chose Evian. But WTH!! Evian from France in BA?? Why drink French water in Buenos Aires? Does ‘French restaurant’ mean ‘restaurant serving French water‘? What’s wrong with the local water? There are so many imported goods missing in Argentina, but importing water is no problem???

We for asked for local water. The waiter didn’t look at us strangely. He is probably used to clients much more difficult then we are. He gave us a glass of local water together with a glass of local Spumante, and the menu. And guess what. The menu had changed… There was fois gras but there was no pâté. I asked the waiter, desperately ;  there is no pâté? You don’t have some hiding in the fridge? Will it be coming back soon?

And guess what reason the waiter gave for this change in menu : they are having import problems, they are not getting it. OK,  due to our minister Moreno all imports are blocked, stopped or at least delayed in the harbor. We start seeing it in the stores, we start feeling it : certain goods, (including for example medicine) aren’t coming in the country anymore. One of them apparently, being pâte de fois gras. I don’t know what disappointed me most, the fact that I couldn’t eat the pâté, or the fact that they -one of the best chefs in the country- didn’t make it themselves but import it!

In Belgium and probably also in France this would be unimaginable. I immediately imagined them buying it in a shop in Ghent where Belgian chefs get there stuff and where I used to get my pate, the ISPC. I just couldnt believe my ears. It looks like La Bourgogne isn’t as first class as I expected.

My husband suggested we  pay the bill (the Local Water and Spumante) and leave, but we decided to have a look at the menu anyway. But nothing I hate more then getting a menu without prices, just because I am a woman. Isn’t it terribly old fashioned that the man is supposed to pay and thus the only one who should know the prices? I am no feminist, I don’t mind if the man pays my dinner, but I need to know the prices. Especially when I picked out a $900 dish with truffle, (how I loooove truffle!) and my husband whispered the price of this dish in my ear. After I had exchanged menus and had a look at what we were about to spend I chose something slightly better priced.

The disappointment didn’t spoil the evening, on the contrary. It was hilarious questioning the origins of everything we got on our plate. And despite this, the food was absolutely great. But I am still craving, craving for the Paté de Fois Gras…