Eating, like traveling, is a way to relate with the world and with new cultures. That’s why when I travel, I make the local cuisine a big part of my adventure. That joy you feel when you taste something so different and so surprising for the first time. When you learn a new word for a new fruit you’ve never seen nor heard of before. When you taste a home-cooked meal in a foreign country and it’s totally not what you were expecting. When you discover unknown fruits, exotic spices, new diets. It’s an exploration—a way to experience a place and a mindset.
So, like every other aspect of my recent trip to Costa Rica, I learned not just the cute and weird phrases, the fun Spanish words or the fact that San José is hugely underrated. I also learned that the Costa Ricans have a serious sweet tooth, that coffee is a vital part of the local cuisine, and that even as sweet as the Ticos might be, they still like their fruits sour.
1. Cas
Like most tropical destinations, Costa Rica is home to a number of unique tropical fruits—ones you’d be hard-pressed to find in other places. And, just like any other warm-weather destination, Costa Rica turns these fruits into smoothies and shakes. The most popular tropical fruit in Costa Rica is without question the small, acidic sour fruit calledcas. Ticos will most often eat the fruit with salt, but if you want it sweet, go for it in a juice.
Where to get cas: It’s available at most sodas (small restaurants) and markets as fresco de cas—an ice-based smoothie made with the fruit.
2. Casado
The most traditional of Costa Rican meals, the Casado is an entire meal including white rice, beans, plantains, picadillo, salad and some type of meat (chicken, fish, pork or beef). In some touristic places and the Central Market, the casados include even more, with a corn tortilla and Turrialba cheese and maybe even some avocado slices. The same dish varies from place to place and the prices in touristic places are often exorbitantly expensive.
Where to get casado: Just about anywhere – it’s a popular dish for lunch. Skip the tourist restaurants and look for it instead at a local soda.
3. Gallo Pinto
Particularly popular for breakfast, the gallo pinto is a rice-and-beans dish prepared with onion, celery and other spices, sometimes accompanied with natilla or scrambled eggs. Ticos usually just call the dish pinto when ordering for breakfast. The origins of this plate are tracked to the Afro-Caribbean populations. Still today near the port-city of Limón, there’s a variant of gallo pinto simply called rice ‘n beans. This dish is similar to the gallo pinto, however it includes the tropical Caribbean flavors of coconut oil and sometimes shredded pieces of coconut.
Where to get gallo pinto: In San José try the gallo pinto at churro restaurant Manolos or the famous Soda Chelles. Both serve the dish all day long. The Central Market may offer both versions, the traditional gallo pinto and the tropical variant, rice ‘n beans.
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