Uruguay

Uruguayans eat more beef per head than anyone on earth, and cattle outnumber people four to one, so the asado is less a meal than an institution: an unhurried weekend gathering around a wood fire where friends work through cuts, sausages and offal grilled low and slow on the parrilla. The everyday version is the chivito — the national sandwich, its name meaning 'little goat' but containing none, piling thin steak with ham, bacon, cheese and a fried egg into a crusty roll.

Waves of Italian and Spanish immigration brought milanesa, pasta and a strong café culture alongside the beef, while dulce de leche sweetens nearly every dessert. And everywhere you look, someone's carrying a gourd: mate, the shared yerba infusion sipped through a metal straw, is the national ritual. Eat at Montevideo's Mercado del Puerto, a cavern of wood-fired grills, and you're at the country's centre of gravity.