Okay, but I’m not going to live on salads and pasta, what else?

Interestingly, even at the most hard-core bastions of red meat there are often offerings of a parrilla de verduras - a grilled vegetable platter, of course keeping in mind that it comes off the same grill as your neighbor’s steak. Many places have a milanesa de soja, which is the tofu or tempeh, or sometimes seitan, version of a milanesa - Argentina’s version of a weiner schnitzel. Most of these aren’t all that exciting, but then, generally neither are the meat versions. Pizza is also quite good in Argentina, in fact easily the best in Latin America, and in some places as good as anything you'd get in Italy, and it’s quite easy to get an individual sized pie at many places, topped with just the things you want.

Alright, so there are some possibilities when I go out with friends to the places they want to eat, what about when it’s their turn to tag along?

Here’s where it starts to get interesting. There are surprisingly quite a few possibilities. The most common are the Chinese vegetarian buffets. It seems there’s quite a population of Taiwanese vegetarians here, and many have opened restaurants that offer up a mix of Argentine and Chinese fare, steam line, or buffet fashion. The most common of these are the tenedor libre style, or all you can eat - and they’re often incredibly good bargains, with unlimited trips to the salad bar, hot food tables, and dessert trays, for under ten pesos. That said, most of them offer the sort of food you might expect for the style and price - decent salad bars, lots of fried foods that keep well on a hot tray, vegetable tarts, and stir-fries. The best of these is probably Los Sabios, Corrientes 3733, in the Almagro barrio, 4864-4407, though there are quite a few others that aren’t far behind.

And that’s it? Chinese-Argentine all you can eat buffets?

There are also a small number of non-Chinese spots of this sort. Without question the best of these is Granix, Florida 165, on the first floor of Galleria Güemes (not the ground floor), 4760-0307 - which has the added advantage of being in the heart of the tourist shopping mecca that is the Calle Florida pedestrian mall. This place is run by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, but there’s no preaching happening, just really high quality food and drink for a flat 18 pesos.

How about non-buffets?

There are the better quality setups where you pay for what you order, more cafeteria style - often with a more intriguing and appetizing selection. These are a little less common, and for some reason lean towards the world of macrobiotics. The best known is La Esquina de las Flores, but it’s neighbor, Lotos, Córdoba 1577, in the Centro area, 4814-4552, is far and away a better option, with an incredible salad selection, a wide variety of hot dishes, and some great tofu based desserts.

Okay, there’s got to be something that’s more of a traditional restaurant, yes?

Of course, I was just getting to those. There are quite a few little neighborhood cafes that specialize in vegetarian food - a couple of Indian vegetarian restaurants, a Chinese spot, Korean, and several various, more or less Argentine creative, or eclectic, dining spots. They tend to be on the casual side, invoking a back to nature or rustic, or perhaps just "we don’t have the money to fix the place up" atmosphere. The Chinese spot is a nice addition to a venture out to Buenos Aires’ Chinatown, a rarely visited spot by tourists (many locals don’t even realize it’s here) - Siempre Verde, at Arribeños 2127, in Belgrano, 15-5454-6481, is right in the heart of the district and serves up excellent fare ranging from classic Chinese vegetarian dishes to "converted" meat dishes substituting various forms of tofu or vegetables.

We’re back to Chinese...

Sorry, there are just so many of them. Possibly my two favorite vegetarian spots are in the more creative, eclectic vein. Bio, at Humboldt 2199 in the heart of Palermo viejo, 4774-3880, serves up some amazingly creative macrobiotic cuisine based on whole grains and vegetables. They’re not big on the tofu score which is a nice change of pace. They also make some great fresh juice drinks. Across town at Flor de Lino, at number 356 on the picturesque Pasaje San Lorenzo, in San Telmo, 4362-0128, a vegetarian catering company has opened up a dining room offering truly inventive, delicious pizzas, pastas, and other main dishes, along with a wine list and full bar.