Costa Rica → Information → Culture → Food

Costa Rica Food and Cuisine

Comida tipica or typical Costa Rica food is not only delicious but easy to make. The main ingredients are usually grains (rice, beans, and chickpeas) and some vegetables that are traditionally from the area such as Camote, Chayote, yucca and guineo. All of these are carefully combined with spices and a traditional sauce named Lizano. One of the most famous foods from Costa Rica is “El Casado” (married) named like that because it is what Costa Rica wives packed for lunch for their husbands when they were the only ones that worked in the family in the early years. “Casado” is a combo of rice and beans supplemented with cabbage-and-tomato salad, fried plantains, and the meat of the day: chicken, fish or beef, sometimes it may even include a fried egg or fried yucca on the side. Vegetables were not so popular on the yesteryear, but the new generations have become more conscious about their eating habits. The usual meals were you can find a variety of vegetables are “Picadillos” (Minces of Chayote, Vainicas (string beans) or potatoes with ground beef) or Platano Asado (Baked Plantain); this one could be served with white cheese as a side dish at dinner or lunch or with sugar as a dessert. Another dish rich in vegetables is the “Olla de Carne”, a beef soup full of potatoes, chayote, pumpkins and cauliflower.

For breakfast Costa Ricans are known to have a wide menu, choices for Costa Rica food traditions for at breakfast are: Chorreadas (corn pancakes) home bread dipped in sour cream with Gallo Pinto, scrambled eggs with onions or “A la Ranchera” which are fried eggs in tomato sauce. In Costa Rica it is also normal to have fruit salad or just cereal, usually cornflakes with banana slices for breakfast. The Gallo Pinto is very famous as well: a combination of fried rice and beans with Lizano sauce is served usually for breakfast but it is good to go anytime of the day. Among desserts you can find plan cake, chiverre and pineapple patties and the famous Tres Leches wich is a cake bathed in evaporated, condensed and regular milk with a whipped cream top, a Tico’s favorite.
As you can see most of the Costa Rican dishes have lovely sounding names in Spanish. wedding food may not be the regular Costa Rican meals, however in most parties you will certainly enjoy Arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), ensalada rusa (beetroot slices in mayonnaise) and ground beans with potato chips.

Costa Rica cuisine has many faces depending on the location; in Limon for example the Gallo Pinto changes it form when bathe in coconut milk and is named just Rice and beans in spited of being cooked much more differently. Although Costa Rica has large coasts, sea food is very expensive, mostly because all of the sea food is exported to other countries. In Costa Rica, keep in mind that eating out on expensive restaurants may not be so interesting and provocative as eating in regular “sodas”, these are small typical restaurants, very cheap in most cases and it is where everyone eats, don’t hesitate on trying places with modest looks, those are the best, you can always tell places where the food is good because they are always full and the good thing is that in these “sodas” meals costs less than $5. If you visit a bar, go ahead and order a “Boca”, these are snacks to have while you drink: Chifrijo (tender beans, toasted tortillas, avocado, fried pork onion and tomato dish), fried chicken wings, gallos de salchichon (sausage on a tortilla) and a few local treats depending on the area are always a wonderful surprise for you palate. Enjoy Costa Rica cuisine, it is full of culture, tradition and amazing flavour.