Why is the typical Uruguayan dish called "chivito" made with beef and not goat meat? Many are delighted after trying a "Chivito" and wonder the origin of the dish, but few know how to answer that question.

 

The invention of the "chivito" was a consequence of coincidences. Antonio Carbonaro moved to Punta del Este in search of opportunities, where he opened “El Mejillón” on 31st Street and the Mansa beach promenade. Between the 40s and the beginning of the 60s it was one of the best-known bars on the peninsula where Carbonaro invented "el chivito" to satisfy a clients request. The Chivito later popularized over time and is known today not only in Uruguay, but in distant cities where there are immigrants from this country:

"It was a complicated night; we had suffered a blackout. A client, I think from northern Argentina or Chile, asked for goat meat because, before reaching Punta del Este, she had passed through Córdoba, where she had tried it and liked it a lot. As we did not have goat meat, we prepared a toast with butter and added ham and juicy steak slices. The woman was delighted. Luckily, we got out of trouble and, unintentionally, invented the chivito."

The idea became such a success that they included it on the menu and sold a thousand Chivitos a day. Two butchers in Punta del Este run their business only with the meat they sold to Carbonaro.

Carbonaro died in 2004, His "chivito" continues successfully, beyond the fact that the creation was a way out of a hurry before the request of a tourist, to whom they did not want to say: "We do not have."