The Feria de Mataderos is Buenos Aires' gaucho market — a Sunday street fair in the far western neighbourhood of Mataderos (named for the slaughterhouses that once operated here) that celebrates the rural Argentine traditions of horsemanship, folk music, and the asado (barbecue) culture that defines the country's identity far more than tango or Borges. The fair draws porteños and rural Argentines alike, and the atmosphere — folk bands, gaucho riders, craft stalls selling leather goods and silver mate cups, and the smell of beef grilling over wood fires — is the most authentically Argentine experience available in the capital.
The food is the highlight. Enormous parrillas (barbecue grills) cook entire cuts of beef, chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage), and the achuras (offal) that are an essential part of the Argentine asado tradition. Empanadas from the northern provinces (Salta, Tucumán) are made by hand and fried to order. Locro (a hearty corn and meat stew from the Andes) and humitas (corn tamales) represent the indigenous Argentine food traditions that the cosmopolitan city centre rarely showcases.
The market takes place on Sundays from April through December (it moves to Saturday evenings in January-March) and is reached by bus from the city centre in about 40 minutes. The journey through Mataderos — past the old cattle market buildings and the working-class houses of a neighbourhood that has never been gentrified — provides context for the fair's existence: this is where rural Argentina meets the city, and the Fair of Mataderos is the weekly negotiation between the two.
Verified Facts
The Feria de Mataderos takes place on Sundays from April through December
Mataderos is named after the slaughterhouses that once operated in the area
The fair celebrates gaucho and rural Argentine traditions
The neighbourhood is located in the far west of Buenos Aires
Get walking directions
Lisandro de la Torre, Comuna 8, Buenos Aires, C1439, Argentina
