November 30 is the date on which we celebrate this unique infusionthat is present in more than 90 percent of Argentina's households, which does us so well, that does not distinguish age, sex, social class, geographical area, which connects all Argentines in a very particular way. We celebrate National Mate Day.

Mate has been “very ours” since always; so ours that it was deservedly established its Day by Law 27.117 and as a date it was chosen on November 30, recalling the birth of Andrés Guacurarí y Artigas (1778), who ruled between 1811 and 1821 the Grande Province of the Misiones, the territory of Ilex Paraguariensis (yerba mate), then widely consumed and disseminated for its physical and spiritual beneficial effects.

One of the most outstanding features of our National Infusion is its versatility and its food condition with beneficial effects on health, which year after year further widen the range of consumers, both in age and in chosen spaces to enjoy the food.

But what does Mate mean for Argentines? The answers are contained in a qualitative market research (*) carried out by the National Institute of Yerba Mate (INYM) through face-to-face surveys and Focus Groups throughout the country, which we summarize in the following lines:

It's a national symbol.

Associated with culture, it is recognizes as an identity trait of “argentinity”.

It is a symbol of our tradition and paradigmatic expression of our customs: “Mate is very ours”.

It represents a tradition, a deeply rooted custom: it is associated with the hospitality of the country man, to the rural and gauchesque.

“ It is an icon , along with asado, tango, empanada and gaucho.”

It is the social infusion par excellence

It represents union and sharing, helps to socialize, facilitates the generation of bonds, lengthens or promotes it, shortens distances, helps to intimate, distends, informalizes.

It works as a excuse for the meeting: “It is typical for one to say, do you come to take some Mates?”

It is transmitted by family inheritance

From parents to children, the habit is passed from generation to generation; for many parents it is a matter of pride that their children start taking mate.

Children begin to take when they see adults, and see it as a game, they ask for it because they It's a real eye-catcher.

“ Now you are with the You guys say, “Do you want a mate?” It used to be like a grown-up thing.”

Young people incorporate the consumption of mate during the last years of secondary school and when entering the faculty.

Alone or accompanied