Merken is a mix of dehydrated chili, coriander seeds and salt. Until few years ago merken was almost unknown, but today it is at the core of the national brand and has become a regular consumption all throughout Chile. Merken became typical through a short yet intense process where many different actors intervened. In this article, we aim to analyze the history of the merken boom, and the important role that restaurants, commercialization and mass consume have in the process of it becoming typical. I'll argue that typicality is related with at least three ideas: nation, specificity and antiquity, and we will observe how and when merken began to embody all of these qualities.