Despite the relaxation in care measures for the coronavirus, few are encouraged to share mate beyond family ties and spokesmen for the National Institute of Yerba Mate (INYM) considered that the interruption of “the social rounds of mate is here to stay” due to the coronavirus pandemic.
INYM specialists considered that the coronavirus pandemic changed habits permanently and they said that “the pandemic resulted, among many other things, in the fact that mate is no longer shared socially, even though the distancing ends.”
The spokespersons pointed out to Télam that “it can happen that it is shared with the couple or with the children, but no longer between friends, acquaintances, the extended family or with co-workers.”
According to the agency, A fact that reaffirms that this infusion is shared less is the increase in the number of mates “in circulation” is directly associated with the “Yerba mate sales record that occurred last year”.
The entry of yerba mate leaves to dryers during 2021 was more than 882 million kilograms, while more than 282 million kilograms were moved in the domestic market, which represents historical record figures of production and consumption, reported from the INYM .
In this direction, a study carried out by researchers from the Autonomous University of Entre Ríos (UADeER) and the National University of Rosario (UNR) that analyzed the changes in habits related to the consumption of mate stated that only half of those interviewed he would share mate again with people who do not belong to his inner circle.
From the research carried out by the coastal higher education institutions, it appears that, before the coronavirus pandemic broke out, 96 percent of those interviewed shared mate at work, while taking classes at the university or in encounters in spaces with people not considered close friends.
Of that total, 71 percent assured that they continue to share the mate but only with their family group or cohabitants and 50 percent assured that “they would return to traditional habits after the pandemic is over.”
The study, directed by Norma Levrand, a researcher at the Institute of Social Studies of the Conicet/UNER, together with Claudio Staffolani, a professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the UNR, also assured that “The habit of drinking mate continues and the number of daily intakes did not vary considerably,” although he also noted that 20 percent of those surveyed incorporated other infusions.
For its part, Las Marías, one of the main yerba mate establishments in the province of Corrientes, assured in dialogue with Télam that From the beginning of the pandemic, it encouraged “consumers to avoid situations of contagion, promoting, among other things, the consumption of mate individually.”
And he added that “in terms of consumption habits, the most noticeable change as a result of the pandemic was not sharing mate,” however, from the company’s balance sheet “despite that and the longer stay of people in their homes, this was not reflected in an increase in sales of yerba mate, which did not register relevant variations”.
In this frame, Karla Johan, mate sommelier, considered that during the confinement caused by the coronavirus pandemic there was “a boom in mate, a cultural change that, hand in hand with the impossibility of sharing it, I lead each one to become more interested” in the infusion: “what I have waited for my entire career,” he joked.
“Before, it was common for someone to arrive at a house and drink a mate already started or made in the way that the host has, also there were people who drank because they were part of a group and grabbed it,” expressed the woman who has been dedicated to the world of this Argentine tradition for 18 years.
In this sense, he explained that “by having to spend more time at home” many people “improved themselves and began to try how they like it, with what yerba, what kind of mate” and remarked that another situation to highlight during the pandemic was ” the bond of youth with mate”.
Based on his experience and on the reflections and debates that arise in the workshops and in his interventions through his Instagram account with almost 19,000 followers, Johan pointed out that “after the pandemic I think what is already happening is going to happen in Uruguay or in Syria or in Lebanon, where they drink a lot of mate, they even go out with the thermos under their arms but each one with their mate and straw”.
From the Ministry of Health of the Nation they indicated that it is preferable to avoid sharing it, especially in the face of the winter season and seasonal respiratory diseases.
“I think the light bulb will not be shared again, but in an intimate setting yes, because it has to do with our culture, the primed mate allows you to unite, chat, while I drink, I also listen, I allow the other to speak and vice versa”, considered the specialist.
For its part, another area where you no longer see mates passing from one person to another is in university classrooms, where many students opted for another infusion or each one takes their own.
“Before we agreed and one would carry the equipment, another the yerba, another some cookies and during the course we shared, now I feel lazy to carry everything to come, maybe I’ll buy a coffee or a water and that’s it,” said Gonzalo, Journalism student at the National University of Avellaneda (UNDAV).
“I am not going to share mate again, it is not something that I love either, I usually had some when they passed me at work or with a group of friends, but the truth is that you start to think and I do not like the idea so much, beyond of the coronavirus, there is flu and colds,” said Ernesto, 36.
From the Ministry of Health of the Nation The recommendation is clear: although in the latest health recommendations nothing was mentioned about mate, they indicated that It is preferable to avoid sharing it, especially in the face of winter and seasonal respiratory diseases.
