Yerba Mate: The Drink That Shaped a Nation Volume 79

Like coffee or tea, yerba mate is one of the world's most beloved caffeinated beverages. Once dubbed a "devil's drink" by Spanish missionaries in South America only to be later hailed by capitalists and politicians as "green gold," it has a long and storied history. And no country consumes and celebrates yerba mate quite like Argentina.

Yerba Mate is the first book to explore the extraordinary history of this iconic beverage in Argentina from the precolonial period to the present. From yerba mate's Indigenous origins to its ubiquity during the colonial era, from its association with rural people and the poor in the late nineteenth century to its resurgence in the last years of the twentieth century, Julia Sarreal meticulously documents yerba mate's consumption, production, and cultural importance over time. Yerba Mate is the definitive history of this popular beverage and social practice, and it tells a fascinating story about race, culture, and how a drink helped forge the national identity of one of the world's most dynamic countries.

Author: Julia J. S. Sarreal
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 01/24/2023
Pages: 394
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.90d
ISBN13: 9780520379282
ISBN10: 0520379284
BISAC Categories:
- History | Latin America | South America
- Social Science | Agriculture & Food (see also Political Science | Public Poli
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies | Caribbean & Latin American Studies

About the Author
Julia J.S. Sarreal is Associate Professor at Arizona State University and author of The Guaraní and Their Missions: A Socioeconomic History. She has a Ph.D. in History from Harvard University and teaches classes on Latin American History and Latin American Studies. Dr. Sarreal first tried yerba mate as a Peace Corps volunteer in Curuguaty, Paraguay. Her intellectual interest in the beverage was sparked while living in Buenos Aires and working on her dissertation about the Guaraní missions.