Mate

Sunday 24 September 2006

This is mate (pronounced ma-tay), the quintessential Argentine drink. Yerba mate is an herb full of vitamins and minerals (and a substance called mateina, which gives it six times the stimulating power of coffee) which is dried and roasted and then soaked in water to form a kind of tea. Drunk from a gourd with a steaming hot metal straw, it tastes like grass and is an appetite suppressant.

You can see Argentines sipping away everywhere, at any hour of the day. It is quite popular with students to help stay awake. But traditionally, it is a social drink to be shared with lots of friends, chatting and debating in a circle, passing the gourd around back and forth, constantly adding more water. There are, of course, all kinds of rules and rituals for drinking mate, kind of like an east Asian tea ceremony.

There is a myth behind this magical drink, as well. Supposedly mate was brought to the people by a very very old man from a tribe in what is known today as Uruguay. His tribe was nomadic, but at one point he became to weak and tired to follow them. He stayed behind, and his young and beautiful daughter stayed to take care of him. One day, a stranger came to their door, asking for shelter. They gladly offered it, and shared their food with him as well. When the stranger went to leave, he asked if there was anything he could do for them. The old man said no, unless he knew a way to restore his strength, for he wanted to return to the tribe and marry off his daughter. The stranger then showed him mate, where to find it and how to grow it. Drinking it immediately restored the old man. He returned to his tribe, showed them how to prepare mate, and probably married off his daughter, too.