As someone who actively looks forward to each meal of the day, obviously I was excited to try all the food I could while in Costa Rica. The first day I arrived, my host mom was delighted that I had no dietary restrictions and was eager to taste anything. Later she would learn about my aversion to regular milk as I went on a hunt for oat milk instead, but besides that I genuinely do like everything.

The Costa Rican diet revolves around rice and beans. “Casado” is the traditional plate of food served for lunch or dinner, and consists of rice, black beans, fried plantains, a meat of choice, and often some lettuce and tomato as a small salad. Pretty much every restaurant here serves casado in some form or another, though there is a lot of variation from place to place which is what makes it so good every time – you’re never really eating the same exact thing. For example, last night our host mom made us casado with steak, potatoes, rice, beans, and plantains. The meat is always seasoned and cooked perfectly, and the fried plantains are the best part. Cecelia, our host mom, makes them in a little mini deep fryer. Last night she brought out a giant plate piled high with plantains. “I made extra because you girls like them so much!” she told us. You’d think something sweet and almost dessert-y wouldn’t go well with a bite of potato and steak, but it really does.

Another component of lunches and dinners is a cold drink. It’s normal to be offered an agua fresca made from some type of fruit. Most restaurants have several flavors available every day – strawberry, passionfruit, pineapple, or a sour-sweet fruit called cas. From my understanding it’s really just fruit and water blended together – but how could you go wrong with that? Our host mom usually serves agua de cas or agua de piña. We also often drink this iced tea that is popular everywhere here – basically just sweet tea.

In the mornings, for breakfast, the rice and beans from last night’s casado are fried together with sliced yellow onion to make gallo pinto, probably Costa Rica’s most well-known and recognizable dish. It just looks like beans and rice stirred together, so when I first got here I was a little unimpressed. However, it’s so freaking good. The onions give the rice a ton of flavor and everything’s a little crispier than it was the night before. Usually my host mom serves it straight up, but I’ve had it at a few restaurants with toppings like fried eggs, pico de gallo, avocado, and bacon. If take any dish back to the States when I return to make for myself, it’ll be gallo pinto.

If we don’t have gallo pinto in the morning, it’s likely we’ll have cubes of fruit and perhaps a sandwich or a couple pancakes. Today, Cecelia make sandwiches with toasted bread, ham, tomato, and refried beans.

My only complaint about the Costa Rican diet is that costarricenses don’t seem to tolerate spicy food. I practically dump Valentina or Tabasco on everything at home, but I’ve only encountered hot sauce as an option at a few restaurants, and we ended up buying our own. Even the hot sauce they do have is not quite spicy enough for me – but the flavor is delicious.

I could go on and on about food here. I haven’t even mentioned the alcoholic beverages. (Let’s just say the margaritas are hit or miss but I’ve learned to love a spicy shot of chiliguaro.) That’ll be for another post.