Montevideo, Sep 2 (EFE).- New family models, nutritional concerns and changing gastronomic fashions are threatening to transform barbecue methods in the two countries that share the River Plate, a ritual that up until now had evoked the rustic customs of the "gauchos" (cowboys) and their relationship with meat and fire.
"This is the life!" is the phrase that anthropologist Gustavo Laborde heard most at the barbecues he attended to gather material for his book "El asado: Origen, historia, ritual" (Barbecue: Origin, history, ritual) a study of the origins, history and customs surrounding this typical Sunday and celebration food in Uruguayan and Argentine homes.
"In barbecuing, what happens is that one travels in time: the barbecuer and the guests transfer themselves to a type of idyllic grassland area and feel like cowboys," the author told Efe.
Sundays spent over the fire, the use of almost barbarian-like cuts of beef and work in the open air make this type of food an "artificially primitive" ceremony that "reaffirms certain cultural values," Laborde says.
"The most notable thing is the masculine hierarchy, because the barbecuer is always a man, normally the father in the family, who sets the rhythm of the entire barbecue." Others come together at the ritual also because of their enjoyment of meat "or the belief that 'if there's no meat on the plate, it's not a meal,'" added the Uruguayan anthropologist.
But not even the traditional barbecue with its deeply-rooted customs is immune from social changes and the practice seems to be suffering a series of modifications that, slowly but surely, are threatening to transform the ritual.
On the one hand, concerns about the dangers of cholesterol and diseases like diabetes hover around the grill, and it is becoming more and more common to see less fat on the steaks and more seasonal vegetables.
"They're putting eggplants, zucchini, onions (on the grill) and they're tending to select lighter pieces of barbecue," Laborde says.
A much more significant change could be coming in terms of who does the barbecuing, a job that is now beginning to be taken over at times by women.
The spread of divorce has opened the road to more women, reluctant to deprive themselves of the pleasures of the barbecue, to head for their grills and perform the barbecuing duties.
"It continues to be less common and only occurs on the domestic level. In the grills of restaurants, it's still rather unthinkable to see a woman," Laborde says.
Aside from the innovations, however, barbecuing is firmly ensconced as "an enclave of identity" for Argentines and Uruguayans, who in front of the fire feel like the gauchos, horseback riders and rural laborers who inhabited the region in the 18th and 19th centuries.
On both sides of the River Plate, people assert with pride that their countries "formed around a piece of barbecued meat over the coals" and people all across the region proclaim that their forefathers were the inventors of the ritual.
But far from getting into attempting to resolve the rivalries, Laborde discovered during his research that the practice has not been performed in the current manner for longer than about 70 years.
"What the cowboys ate and how they ate - their barbecue - (was) very different from the way it is today. Barbecue is really a product of modernity, of the division between the working day and leisure time," the anthropologist said.
Laborde explains in his book that the gauchos, who hunted the wild cattle throughout the region, ate a very different type of meat from that found today in butcher shops and they cooked it on grills that bore very little resemblance to those used these days.
In addition, he says that starting in the 1950s, barbecuing transformed itself into a city ritual, and the thousands of grills in Argentine and Uruguayan homes "will become a cultural phenomenon for future archaeologists."
In any case, the main thing is not to determine if barbecuing evokes the true historical past or just an idyllic and heroic myth. Rather - in barbecuing - the main concern is always to enjoy the food and the company of one's family and friends.
