In early 19th-century Argentina and Chile, meals were not divided into starter, main course, and dessert as in Europe. Around the campfire or the estancia table, everything revolved around the *asado* (meat grilled over embers), shared standing or sitting on cowhides. *Mate* circulated from hand to hand before, during, and after the meal, from the same gourd. Hearty stews (locro, charqui) sustained the body on marching days, and a corn-based sweet (mazamorra) sometimes closed the meal. This was gaucho and soldier fare: robust, economical, made to feed men on the move across the pampas and the Andes.

Two emblems of the Río de la Plata: yerba mate, the shared bitter infusion that paces the whole day, and the *asado*, the slow-grilling technique for beef on embers inherited from the gauchos. San Martín, a sober soldier with a delicate stomach, lived on these two pillars.