We all love food, right? It’s one of the best experiences in the world if you know where to look at: there are so many cultures out there that have experimented with food and come up with some of the best dishes that you are ever going to enjoy. This is particularly true in Latin America, where you can enjoy some of the best meals, dishes and food in general in the whole world.
In this particular case, if Costa Rica is the next destiny that you want to know, there are so many thing that you should know about that tropical paradise; a magical place with the most beautiful beaches, a very interesting history and the amazing forests. But as we have stated before, Latin America is incredibly known for the food and Costa Rica is one of the best examples of quality traditional food that you are going to find in this subcontinent, so here we present you their top ten best dishes that you need to try out.
1. Casado:
Casado or typical food is the common dish of Costa Rica, consists in beams, rice with red peppers finely cut like cube, onions, fried bananas, and cabbage salad with tomatoes and garrotes. Also this dish has a wide selection of meat among chicken, fish, and pork meat con roasted onion. The meat most cooked in two ways: Roast and grill but never must to fry it. Something the Casado includes: Potatoes, vegetables, avocado, etc.
2. Ceviche:
Ceviche is the most emblematic dish of Costa Rica; it is an appetizer and it consists in raw fish very marinated in citrus juices as: lemon with leaves finely cut and vegetables.
3. Gallo Pinto:
Gallo Pinto is the typical breakfast of Costa Rica. It consists in rice and beans mixed together, fried eggs, meat, fried bananas and tortillas. A popular costume in Costa Rica is pouring the Lizano sauce over the Gallo Pinto.
4. Olla de Carne
La olla de carne (Beef pot) is a tasty stew really nutritious, the typical soup of Costa Rica specifically speaking. This dish has pieces of meat really big, potatoes, garrots, green bananas, squachs and Yucca.
5. Tamales
The Costa Rican tamales are a cornmeal mix with rice, pork meat, beans and
vegetables rolled with banana leaves meanwhile are boiling to high temperature. A dish very popular in Mexico and Venezuela where the Venezuelans know it as Hayaca, different countries of Latin America love this dish but in each place use different ingredients for cook it.
6. Chifrijo
Chicharrones (Pork rind) and beans (frijoles): Chifrijo!! A dish consisting by pork rind, rice, beans with its broth, tomatoes, and onion and banana chips. One of more popular dishes in Costa Rica, one of the favorite by the tourists, is simple and has a very good taste.
7. Stuffed chili
Pepper is cooked slowly, it’s stuffed and has a lot of spices, which combines the
elements of each ingredient to create a big explosion of flavor. As that preview case, this is a dish basic but with so many lovers in Costa Rica.
8. Arroz con leche (Rice with milk)
A delicious dessert that is very common in the entirety of Latin-American. The rice is cooked slowly with milk, sugar and maybe a sweet spice to balance the flavor at moment of the cooking. This dish is very common in different countries in South America countries such as Venezuela, Colombia and others that enjoy this dessert, which is simply nutritive and delicious.
9. Chan
Chan is a slightly sweet and viscose drink from the addition of water to a few tablespoons of chan seeds. The seed of chan is little and smells like lavender. It is a very healthy drink for our digestive system and it is one of the highest regarded drinks in the entirety of Costa Rica.
10. Coffee
The coffee it’s not a typical or own dish of Costa Rica but definitely is one of the
drinks that are more appreciated in the country and is consumed in different ways: Cold or hot, this coffee is one the favorite drink for the Costa Rican and it should definitely be an option for you if you want to visit this country in the near future.
As far as food goes, you are not going to have a lot of trouble while visiting Costa Rica. We would go as far as say that we came up short when mentioning the best dishes and drinks that this country has to offer, which is a testament to their never-ending quality as a producer of food and their capacity to make some of the best food that you are going to enjoy in Latin America.
We hope that this list has been of your liking and that these dishes can make your tourist experience a lot more enjoyable.
