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Mate and Yerba Mate

Mate

Specialised

Ilex paraguariensis, cultivated and processed in MISIONES and CORRIENTES, which produce most of the world’s yerba. Drunk from a gourd through a metal bombilla, refilled repeatedly and PASSED AROUND A GROUP FROM ONE VESSEL — which is the whole social point. Argentina consumes more yerba than any other country. ⚠ IT IS NOT ARGENTINE IN ORIGIN: the practice is GUARANÍ, the Jesuit missions industrialised its cultivation in the 17th and 18th centuries, and it is equally the national drink of Uruguay and Paraguay, where TERERÉ is drunk cold. ⚠ Mate drunk very hot is associated in studies with raised oesophageal cancer risk.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Guaraní community documented

Languages: Spanish, Guarani

What is recorded

  • Mate drinking originates with the Guaraní; Jesuit missions industrialised yerba cultivation in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is equally the national drink of Uruguay and Paraguay, where tereré is the cold form, and of Rio Grande do Sul as chimarrão. It is not exclusively Argentine. documented
  • Jesuit missions industrialise yerba mate cultivation, building on Guaraní practice. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

Recorded as relating to this foodway

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.