If you want to witness a real Porteño brawl, insult an Argentine’s pizza and watch the argument ensue—the country is more than just the land of beef. Conversely, in Buenos Aires, the self-proclaimed pizza capital of South America, there are more pizzerias than steak-centric parrilla restaurants, and many locals proclaim that the high-rising, cheese-smothered slices rivals those of New York, Chicago, and Italy.

“Asado may be the national dish of Argentina, but pizza is the great love of Buenos Aires,” says Daniel Young, author of Phaidon’s Where To Eat Pizza. “In very few cities is the local pizza culture so pervasive and powerful as it is in Buenos Aires.”

Half of the Argentine population comes from Italian descendants, so it makes sense that pizza is such a big deal. Working class immigrants brought it over in the late 1800s starting with Naples native Nicolas Vaccarezza, who made the first documented pizza in his La Boca bread oven in 1882. He topped the dough with accessible and affordable ingredients, which in Argentina meant cheese and tomatoes. Over the next decades, immigrants continued to settle and the city experienced an explosion of pizzerias that strayed far from its Italian origins. A whole new pizza beast emerged, oozing with extra cheese on top.

A gooey, cheesy slice of pizza de molde.

Allie Lazar