Argentine beef
Beef is a key component of traditional Argentine cuisine. History Cattle were first brought to Argentina in 1536 by Spanish conquistadors. Due to the geography of the Pampas and a small national market, the cattle multiplied rapidly. Railway building within Argentina and the invention of refrigerated trains and ships in the late 19th century made an export market and Argentina's beef export industry started to thrive. The flipped seasons between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres meant that Argentine beef came onto the market at a time of year when beef was less at hand in the Northern Hemisphere, which further lifted the potential export market in the United States and European markets. Following the rising demand for high-quality beef, new breeds and selective crossbreeding have been developed. Argentine beef and its production have played a major part in the culture of Argentina, from the asado to the history of the gauchos of the Pampas. Landowners became wealthy from beef production and export, and estancia owners built large houses, important buildings in Buenos Aires and elsewhere, and contributed to politics, philanthropy, and society. The agricultural show La Rural each winter in Buenos Aires became a major part of the social season since it started in 1886. In Chile, heightened taxes for the import of Argentine cattle in 1905 led to the meat riots, one of the first massive protests in Santiago. The price of meat was kept artificially high by the government, by means of the combination of a special tariff applied to cattle imports from Argentina, to protect the domestic producers, and a runaway inflation. The riots lasted from October 22 until October 27, and between 200 and 250 people were killed over this period, while more than 500 were injured. The financial losses were staggering. This revolt emphasized that the social problems were far more serious than what the authorities believed. Recent years Argentina has the world's second-highest consumption rate of beef, with yearly consumption at 55 kg per person. In 2006, livestock farmers kept between 50 and 55 million head of cattle, mostly in the fertile pastures of the Pampas. The country is currently the third-largest beef exporter in the world after Brazil and Australia. The national government applies a 15% tax on beef exports and has applied further restrictions since March 2006 to keep domestic prices low. On 8 March 2006, after unsuccessfully trying to control the rising prices of beef in the internal market (26% since the beginning of that year), the Argentine government banned beef exports for 180 days (with the exception of prearranged shipments and the Hilton quota). On 26 May, the ban was replaced by a quota, to be in force between June and November, equivalent to 40% of the amount of beef exported in the same period of 2005. These measures met harsh criticism from livestock farmers, the meat processing industry, and the export sector; some analysts have said that it will be useless in the long term and harm Argentina's international