The Argentine eating rhythm that Cortázar carried with him to Paris: a light desayuno with mate, midday almuerzo, afternoon merienda (bitter mate and sweets), then a late cena. But the true heart of this table is the sobremesa — that long moment when you stay seated long after the last dish, talking literature, jazz, and politics while passing the gourd. Eating is never more than a pretext for conversation.

A bitter infusion of holly leaves (Ilex paraguariensis) drunk from a gourd through a bombilla. Cortázar's perpetual companion at his writing desk and in his Parisian exile — the quintessential Argentine gesture that opens and closes each day.