Costa Rica Cuisine

The Kid and Marcos, caretaker of the family farm, had lunch with us the other day. This wasn’t planned in advance, so I heated up leftover rice and black beans, scrambled a few eggs on the side, cut up some homemade cheese we’d purchased in the village, made a tomato-avocado-onion salad, and mixed masa with water to make a quick griddle-stack of tortillas. Your ma-ma’ cooks like a Tica, Marcos told The Kid approvingly.

Marcos will clear a garden spot on our own finca later this week. We stood on the hillside and I waved my arms over the slope and flat area in front of our half-finished casa, telling him the planting area must be large as we would have fruit trees on the slope and garden rows below. I would plant green vegetables in tiers in this area, assorted roots over there, tomatoes and herbs over here.

Marcos thought for a few minutes and then said that the garden doesn’t need to be so large. It is different in Costa Rica, he explained. Here plantings are made primarily for beauty – many flowers – and vegetables in volume are left to the ‘producers of commerce.’ This was enlightening! I thought of the many organic growers at the market and their ridiculously low prices, and realize now that we can grow vegetables that are just enough for us, not the entire countryside. Instead of rows of tomatoes, we can grow just a plant or two and instead have curved, meandering paths close to the casa with beautiful flowering plants, vines and shrubs for which this country is so well known.

Unlike some other Central American countries, Costa Rican cuisine is not known for spicy hot flavors – although delicious tongue-lashing sauces are available in restaurants if one asks. Rice and tortillas are served with every meal. Chicken and chunks of pork are served either sautéed in a light tomato-garlic sauce or deep-fried. Beef, called bistec, is not so common and when offered on a menu is served in the aforementioned sauce. Fish of all types is plentiful and served lightly breaded, either filets or whole. Beans are also a staple, served separately on the plate or mixed with rice and then called pinto gallo (literally, speckled rooster). Cabbage is cut thin and used as lettuce to make fresh salads, often with tomatoes, avocados and cilantro. A mound of cooked yampi or yucca root or a boiled banana often accompanies a lunch or dinner offering. This former root is peeled, cut and cooked like potatoes. When mashed, the root actually flakes and resembles fish in translucent texture while retaining its earthy flavor.

Fruits in all sizes and textures are abundant and often just cut open and eaten from hand or with a spoon – flavors from almond-guanabana to citrusy-mango to candy-like papaya. Street vendors hack the tops off coconuts and stick a straw in for the sweet, watery milk. Ice cream shops are everywhere – perhaps so abundant due to the warm climate and the common practice of favoring foods to highest octane sugar levels. Common desserts include caramel flans, jelly-filled sugar cookies, custards and soft, sticky fudge.

Ethnic diversity in dining is easily accomplished as a little different seasoning can change an entire dish. After all, tortillas, naan and pitas are not so different; pilaf, paella and pinto gallo are cousins, as are polenta, masa and stove-top cornbreads.

This country’s cuisine has strong influences of the Caribbean, South Pacific, and central and south American fare. With essential ingredients such as olive oil and garlic, an assortment of herbs and spices, a few staples and such abundance of fresh food, a kitchen in Costa Rica easily becomes internationale.