HELADOLICIOUS: GETTING ICE CREAM WITHOUT LEAVING THE HOUSE

Buenos Aires has been my city of residence for three months now. It took me two of those months to find out one very important thing about this city, and by writing this I am making sure the same doesn´t happen to you.

In Buenos Aires, pretty much everything can be delivered.

Everything?

– Yes.

Even ice cream?

– Even ice cream.

A while ago my roommate and I were sitting in the kitchen. She asked: ¨I´m going to order some helado. Do you want something?¨ Imagine my surprise as in my home country (Holland) this isn´t possible, and I never considered it to be a real thing. Also, back home I hardly order anything. As my eating habits are  slightly different (less healthy) overhere, vasos of ice cream were added to my list of things I like to order. Oh, yes, that´s another thing típico about Buenos Aires ice cream: they come in vasos.

Back to the kitchen. Did I want to order ice cream? Obvio.

So… How to get the goods?

If picking up the phone and having a conversation in Spanish is a little bit too much of a challenge, here´s what to do:

• Go to one of the delivery sites. For example: buenosairesdelivery.com. Sign up. This takes about three minutes.
• Select flavors, add them to your cart (´agregar´).
• Check your e-mail for the confirmation. Sometimes you will get a message from buenosairesdelivery, saying that they didn´t receive a response to your order, and you´ll have to order again. This has never happened to me up until now.

In 30-45 minutes, a guy on a tiny moped will ring your doorbell and deliver your vaso with ice cream.

Enjoy!

Written by: Kim

*: in 2014, toen ik dit artikel schreef, was eten bestellen in Nederland nog niet zo normaal als bij de porteños (inwoners van Buenos Aires). Wat zij een ‘vaso’ noemen – in het Spaans met name gebruikt om een drinkglas aan te duiden – lijkt nog het meest op een vaas-vormige bak gemaakt van een soort piepschuim, vooral gebruikt door de salons die wat minder aandacht besteden aan uiterlijkheden (wat overigens niets zegt over de kwaliteit van het ijs daar!). De vaso in mijn hand op de foto is klein, maar vasos van meerdere liters voor het hele huis waren bij ons geen uitzondering.