I've wanted to visit Argentina since reading https://idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_day.htm https://idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_stea

I've wanted to visit Argentina since reading https://idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_day.htm https://idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_day.... (2006) which mentions mate as a national obsession and love affair The whole post is great so I don't want to copy too much here - click the link! read it all - but on mate's possible effects: Mate aficionados will tell you that mate contains a special compound, mateine, that serves as a tonic and mild stimulant, promoting alertness without making it hard to sleep, reducing fatigue and appetite, helping the digestion and serving as a mild diuretic. Scientists will tell you that mateine bears a suspicious resemblance to a chemical called caffeine. Mate aficionados will then grow indignant, explaining that mateine is really a stereoisomer (mirror image) of caffeine, with different effects, which will in turn irritate the scientists, who will snap that caffeine doesn't have a chiral center, so it can't have a distinguishable mirror image, and why don't the mate aficionados just put a sock in it. Since I am writing this from Argentina, I will just diplomatically state that mate includes a constellation of chemicals, whose presence may affect the way the body absorbs caff... er, mateine, giving it a unique physiological effect.