In Corrientes where Bonpland settled, the meal is not divided into starter-main-dessert. It is organized around the *ronda de mate*, the 'round' of shared infusion that opens and closes the day, supplemented by cassava breads (chipá, casabe) broken at any hour, the great slow-cooked pot for feast days (locro), and sweet preserves (arrope) that make the fleeting abundance of fruit last. It is a mixed table, inherited from the Guaraní and the Hispano-Creole colonists, where the French naturalist spent half his life.

Bonpland studied, described, and attempted to acclimatize the Paraguay holly: its roasted, bitter, and stimulating leaf is the botanical soul of his South American life and the common thread of all these recipes.