Costa Rican cuisine is heavily influenced by the country’s plentiful fresh ingredients, including exotic fruits and vegetables. Costa Rican cuisine is known for being on the mild side. Often cooked from scratch, Costa Rican dishes are refreshing, varied and delicious.
Expect simple but satisfying home-style cooking. Traditional food is often a blend of comfort food with a flavour-bursting Latin flair. Meals in Costa Rica often contain both rice and black beans, with other ingredients like chicken or fish and different sorts of vegetables.
No holiday to Costa Rica is complete without trying the national dish, gallo pinto. Consisting of rice and beans, served with scrambled or fried eggs and sour cream or cheese, it can be eaten at any time of the day – mostly for breakfast. For lunch or dinner, opt for casados – a dish made up of many foods; rice, beans, served with meat or fish and a salad, fried plantains, white cheese and corn tortilla.
You’ll find generally strong and high quality coffee in Costa Rica. One of the nation’s most important exports, it is offered in nearly every restaurant and household in the country.