Maté!

Before coming to Argentina, I already knew a little bit about maté. It's a type of loose herbal tea made from a plant grown in southern Brazil and Paraguay. It's really popular here in Argentina and also in Uruguay. You drink it out of a special gourd-type cup using a metal straw that filters the infusion on the way up. It's supposed to have all these great qualities; it has a type of caffeine that has all the energy-giving properties of that found in coffee, without the jitters and buzz; it's supposed to be good for the digestion too.

But I didn't realize just how important a role maté plays in Argentine society until I got here. First of all, EVERYONE drinks it. Old, young, men, women, upper class, lower class, maté is present in every level of society. And it's as much about the drink as it is about the ritual of drinking it. There's a whole social etiquette surrounding maté. The server pours the boiling water into the gourd, and then passes it to everyone in the group. Each person sips out of the same straw, and the server refills the gourd with water as each person finishes. It's a social thing; you wouldn't think of just drinking your gourd of mate yourself if there are others present. ( Check out the cheezy photo...)

And people drink maté ALL THE TIME. Everywhere. People walk around with thermoses of hot water in their bags, along with a container of loose mate, and the gourd and straw. You can fill up your thermos in many restaurants for a small charge, and there's even these guys that wander around on the streets with carts with containers of hot water that will fill up your thermos.

And if you always have your maté with you, you can have a little tea party virtually anywhere. When I was hiking near Córdoba, when we got to the lookoff at the end of the trail, one of my fellow hikers whipped out her thermos and we had some maté to warm up. When you walk through the park on a Sunday afternoon, families are sitting around under a tree passing the maté gourd around. You see truck drivers drinking maté at red lights, office workers with their maté on their desk.

I really think we should import this habit back to Canada. I mean, really. It barely snows here outside of the deep south. 5 degrees is considered really cold. Why aren't we the ones constantly equipped for instant access to a hot, stimulating beverage? I urge you, Canada, to start a hot beverage revolution.