Etiquette and South American Tea

A morning or afternoon tea break in many South American countries, calls for a gourd filled with maté.  It is considered a serious breach of etiquette to refuse the maté cup when it is passed around.  An acquired taste, maté is drunk through a communal bombilla straw/strainer, from a gourd or gourd-shaped drinking vessel. These vessels range from the very plain carved wood, to actual gourds which have been decorated or ornamented like the one pictured above, to the extremely ornate in silver, on its own stand. 
— Photo, Maura J. Graber

In Argentina’s camps, those workers engaged in herding in Argentina are paid from $1 to $1.20 per month, and supplied daily with meat and maté. Should they wish to vary this diet, it must be done at their own expense. Maté is a peculiar herb grown in Paraguay, and is the national beverage of the country. It is dried, powdered and steeped in hot water and used as tea. It possesses considerable stimulating powers, and enormous quantities are consumed. All classes use it. A gourd is hollowed and filled with maté, a tube to suck through is inserted and the contents absorbed. It is considered a serious breach of etiquette to refuse the maté cup when it is passed around. The same tube or bombilla, passes from mouth to mouth. —Rio de Janeiro Correspondent to the San Francisco Chronicle, 1887

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Argentinian Dining Etiquette

"They declared with some warmth to the cook, that the foreigners did not know how to eat. I apologized as well as I could, and endeavored thereafter to eat according to gaucho etiquette."

Table Manners in Argentina 

"We encamped near a swamp," says a gentleman, describing a meal he had with some cart drivers in South America, "and supped on sliced pumpkin boiled with bites​ of meat and seasoned with salt. The meal was served in genuine pampas fashion. One iron spoon and two cow's horns split in halves were passed around the group, the members of which squatted upon their haunches and freely helped themselves from the kettle. 

Even in this most uncivilized form of satisfying hunger there is a peculiar etiquette which the most lowly person invariably observes. Each member of the company in turn dips his spoon, or horn, into the center of the stew and draws it in a direct line toward him, never allowing it to deviate to the right or left. By observing this rule, each person eats without interfering with his neighbor. 

Being ignorant of this custom, I dipped my horn into the mess at random and fished about for some of the nice bits. My companions regarded this horrid breach of politeness with scowls of impatience. They declared with some warmth to the cook, that the foreigners did not know how to eat. I apologized as well as I could, and endeavored thereafter to eat according to gaucho etiquette." —New York World, 1894

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia © Etiquette Encyclopedia