Food, Glorious Food!
As a very environmentally and Eco friendly country, Costa Rica are experts on living off the land. The food we are served for desayuno, almuerzo y cena, are natural and unprocessed – and it is amazing!!
I’m pretty sure my host mum for the first week could have been a contestant on Costa Rican Masterchef – she made us all these wonderful meals!
Breakfast consisted of anything from omelettes, to gallo pinto (beans and rice), to fruit and fresh bread. Dinner included rice, more rice, chicken, rices and vegetables. Oh, did I mention rice?! But our host mum always made it taste amazing! One night we had a soup and my roommate and I took a guess to the contents. We guessed it was a mix of potatoes and boiled ham but boy were we wrong! It was all vegetables but the only thing we had heard of was spinach. The rest of the veggies were native to Central America!
We also found the equivalent to boost juice, and despite being a loyal boost consumer, I have to say these were so much better! And cheaper too!! For $2 you can get 800ml of blended fruit, it’s a very refreshing treat on a 38 degree day!!
This past week the food has been as natural, but more traditional. And the portion size has been mucho, mucho grande! Breakfast is a big plate of beans and rice, usually with eggs, two pancakes (or sometimes French toast), some watermelon and pineapple and I have been known to get a piece of cake on my plate as well! It is ridiculous, and one breakfast here would literally be the lite and easy breakfast for the week!! Lunch is more beans and rice and for dinner they mix it up and give us rice and beans! (Sorry, poor joke – it’s currently 7am, I’ve been up since midnight, chasing turtles, so I’m sleep deprived and hungry!!) The portions for lunch and dinner are also massive, and whilst we need enough energy to run after turtles for 6 hours a night, I feel like we are given enough food to feed a small army!! We also get plantain here – a veggie that looks like a banana but tastes nothing like one.
Regardless, all the food here is amazing, and refreshingly unprocessed! Although that hasn’t stopped to group from the occasional splurge on pizza or the German bakery truck (a truck that drives around selling tarts, doughnuts, slices, chocolate covered cookies and slices of cake, half the size of an AFL football, for $2)
Anyway, I’m off for a run to work off yesterday’s 5000 calorie meal before I return home for more beans and rice!!
Global Passenger 