By rachels522
Comida Tipicia
When preparing to come to Costa Rica I was told that I would be eating a whole lot of arroz y frijoles (rice and beans). I figured this meant that I would be eating it once a day. What I did not grasp is that in Costa Rica arroz y frijoles is the staple of every single meal. Occasionally there is a breakfast without rice and beans, but that is a rarity. There are two main dishes that make up the majority of Costa Rican cuisine. The first is gallo pinto for breakfast. Gallo pinto consists of a mix of rice and beans as well as a fried egg. The second dish is casado. Casado can be for either lunch or dinner. It consists of a serving of rice and a serving of beans, separately. That is coupled with red meat or chicken. I eat casado at least once a day, usually twice.
Some of my favorite Costa Rican foods are platanos fritos (fried plaintains) and tamal asado (sweet corn tamale). The fruit in Costa Rica is incredible. They have an absolutely massive selection of fruits including passion fruit and papaya. Costa Rica also has the sweetest mangos and pineapples that I have ever tasted. I am currently sipping on delicious freshly made mango juice.
One of the most shocking aspects of food in Costa Rica is how bland much of it is. I assumed that Costa Rican food would be like Mexican food, super picante (spicy). In reality, Costa Ricans don’t use many spices in their cooking. In fact, they consider using spices to be gringo (white). In fact, at the study center we keep bottles of hot sauce for the days when we just need to spice up our lunches.
In the U.S. I don’t like having the same sort of meal twice in one day. I like to have Thai food for lunch and Indian food for dinner. In Costa Rica the reality is that rice and beans is the staple because it is extremely affordable.