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Best Picada (Rioplatense cuisine) in New York
“A social event that involves gathering with family or friends—picada is the reason the table stays full.”
What the real thing tastes like
A picada (pronounced [piˈkaða]; from picar, "to nibble at") is a typical dish of Argentine and Uruguayan cuisine usually served as a starter, although sometimes as a main course. Related to the Italian antipasto and the Spanish tapas brought by massive immigration, it consists of a serving of savory snack and finger foods. A characteristic picada includes cheeses, cured meats, fermented sausages, olives and peanuts, although this varies depending on the country and who prepares it. One of the most popular dishes in the Rio de la Plata cuisine, picadas are a social event that involves gathering with family or friends.
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Picada is the Rio de la Plata's answer to gathering—a board of cheeses, cured meats, fermented sausages, olives, and peanuts that arrives as a starter (or sometimes the whole meal) and becomes the reason people linger at the table. Born from waves of Italian and Spanish immigration, it's less a fixed recipe and more a flexible framework: what lands on your picada depends on who's making it and where. The name itself—from picar, to nibble at—captures the whole spirit: this is food built for conversation, for hands reaching across the board, for the social event that happens around the food.
Order it here when it has
- flexible, adaptable format
- built for social gathering
- rooted in immigrant culinary heritage
- works as starter or main
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