Costa Rican cuisine is known for being mostly mild, with high reliance on fruits and vegetables. Owing to the location of the country, tropical fruits and vegetables are readily available and included in the local cuisine. Rice and black beans are a staple of most traditional Costa Rican meals, often served three times a day. Costa Rican fare is nutritionally well rounded, and nearly always cooked from scratch from fresh ingredients.
Owing to the contrast of Costa Rica’s large tourist economy, the many rural communities throughout the country, the foods available, especially in the more urban areas, have come to include nearly every type of cuisine in addition to traditional Costa Rican dishes. Cities such as San José, the capital, and beach destinations frequented by tourists offer a range of ethnic foods, from Peruvian to Japanese. Chinese and Italian food is especially popular with Ticos (the local name for anybody Costa Rican; Tica is also sometimes used for women), and can be found around the country, though with varying levels of quality. Food is an important aspect of Costa Rican culture, and family gatherings and celebrations are often centered around meals.
The indigenous people of Costa Rica, including the Chorotega, consumed maize (corn) as a large part of their diet during the pre-Columbian era. Although modern Costa Rican cuisine is very much influenced by the Spanish conquest of the country, corn still maintains a role in many dishes. Tamales, originally introduced to all of Central America by the Aztecs, are served at nearly all celebratory events in Costa Rica and especially at Christmas. They are made out of dough of cornmeal, lard, and spices, stuffed with various mixtures of meat, rice, and vegetables and wrapped and steamed in a plantain or banana leaf. The Chorotega native people prefer to stuff their tamales with deer or turkey meat, pumpkin seeds, tomatoes, and sweet peppers.
The Caribbean coast of Costa Rica comes with its own host of Afro-Caribbean influenced traditions. During the holidays, it is common to find pork cracklings and a tripe soup called mondongo. Rice and beans is a common dish on the Caribbean side, not to be confused with gallo pinto and other dishes containing rice and beans; this dish consists of rice and beans cooked in coconut milk and typically served with fish and some type of fried plantain.
Beverages
Coffee, already one of the largest exports of Costa Rica, is offered in nearly every restaurant and household in the country. Served black or with milk (known as café con leche), it is generally strong and of high quality.
Agua dulce is a common Tico drink, made of tapa de dulce (raw cane sugar, also called panela) dissolved in hot water. This drink is particularly common in the cooler highlands and surrounding mountains of the country.
Frescos and batidos are drinks made from fresh fruit and milk or water. Among the fruits used are papaya, mango, watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberry, blackberry, banana, carrot, tamarind, guanábana and cas, a sour fruit native to Central America. Horchata, the cornmeal and cinnamon drink that originated in Spain, can be found in the northwestern Guanacaste Province. A holiday beverage of homemade ginger beer is found on the Caribbean side of the country, and is sometimes mixed with wine.
Refrescos is the local name for bottled soft drinks, which are widely sold. Most common brands are available, although in rural areas, vendors sometimes sell soft drinks in plastic bags, which are cheaper than cans or bottles.
Agua de pipa is a green coconut with a straw to drink the water found inside. Vendors, called piperos, typically walk around selling green coconuts in touristy areas, and when one is purchased, the vendor chops off the top with a machete and puts a straw into it.
In Costa Rica, beer is the most commonly consumed alcoholic drink. Imperial and Pilsen are the two most widely popular beers in the country. Imperial was founded in 1924, Pilsen in 1888. Imperial is known by the eagle on its label, which is emblazoned on shirts all over the country, and has a slightly lower alcohol content than Pilsen. Bavaria is another local beer, slightly more expensive and enjoyed by a smaller crowd. Microbrews are also increasingly available in Costa Rica, including those made by the Costa Rica Craft Brewing Company.
Michelada is a popular beer in Costa Rica. While slightly different from the Mexican michelada, the Costa Rican one is a bit more simple. It is composed of fresh lime juice, beer, and salt around the rim of the glass. It can be ordered at practically any restaurant or sodita and is very refreshing. Local hard liquors include rum, guaro, and coffee liqueur. The most commonly served rums are Ron Centenario, which is made in Costa Rica, and Nicaraguan rum Flor de Caña. Guaro is a strong-tasting hard liquor made from sugarcane, similar to vodka. It is usually consumed in a mixed drink called a guaro sour, or by the shot. The government created the brand of guaro called Cacique (meaning chieftain) in an effort to stop illegal moonshine manufacturing. Café Rica is a locally produced coffee liqueur. There is also a traditional alcoholic beverage originally made by the Chorotega people of Costa Rica called Vino de Coyol (Coyol wine). It is made by fermenting the sweet, watery sap of the coyol tree, a spiny palm.