Ask your news source of choice about the state of Argentina’s economy, and your AI assistant will suggest Vaca Muerta and its shale gas resources as the country’s great financial savior. But until those global export sales have a knock-on effect on day-to-day life, the jab-jabbing index finger of rising costs coupled with the cheeky middle finger of inflation and a weak peso continue affecting the weekly supermarket spend. 

Right now I think twice before undertaking dentistry work or going out for dinner. (A million-plus pesos for a root canal treatment followed by a crown, with private health coverage, hurts me everywhere.)

Then there are the people who are actually opening canteens and restaurants and bars, and how they invest and kick start a business in our current economic climate. When there’s a will, there’s a way. And what Argentina teaches you, whether it’s in your DNA or you’ve chosen to live here like I have, is to swim and not sink.

Julia is a fabulous example of how to successfully stay afloat without compromising your principles. I love dining there and thinking ‘look how far they’ve come’. A hero story of wills and ways, chef Julio Martín Baez opened the Villa Crespo restaurant for just 22 diners on a shoestring in 2019 – a place bearing a strong independent concept that still applies today –........

© Buenos Aires Herald