Aero: Katherine Kostuk – Costa Rica 2013 – Food and Dining
Aero: Katherine Kostuk – Costa Rica 2013 – Food and Dining
Aero: Katherine Kostuk – Costa Rica 2013 – Food and Dining
I was a little nervous before going to Costa Rica because even though I love food, I can be a picky eater at times. Lucky for me, my host mother Mayra was one of the best cooks ever. Like any other place Costa Rica is going to have different food than I am use to here in the states. Apparently Tricia and I looked very hungry because Mayra didn’t waste any time making sure we were fed a lot of food. Every morning she made us breakfast at least a half hour before we left for the day. We ate dinner anywhere between six and seven depending on the night and if we were hungry. Mayra was the only one that did the cooking and she didn’t have an oven or a stove. She used a hot plate and a crock pot and everything she made came out incredible. It amazed me that she didn’t have an oven or a stove because that’s so common in the states in every house hold. In the mornings Mayra would take fresh fruit and would squeeze it to make us fresh juice to go with breakfast. She also made coffee every morning because all three of us were big coffee drinkers. Mayra served Tricia and I enough that each of us could have fed another person or two off. The portion sizes where very large in our house, but it was interesting to hear in our friends houses theirs was not as large. I can remember there were a couple of nights that she cooked us dinner and then in an hour they would take us to get more food. With every meal Mayra would have a few sides to go along with the main course. Most of the time it was fruits and vegetables, which seemed to be much more common there. Before going to Costa Rica I was not a huge fan of rice and beans, but before leaving I had eaten so many that I started to love them. Mayra’s cooking was incredible and ranged from so many different types of food. One night she made us this stir-fry meal that had meat, potatoes, and carrots all mixed together. Another night she made pork with rice and beans. She never made the same meal twice and they just kept getting better.
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In Costa Rica the cafés and restaurants were similar and different to those in the states. There were multiple cafés no matter where you went, but some of them didn’t have places for you to sit down after you ordered. The coffee that I got from the cafés in Costa Rica was so much better than any coffee I’ve ever had. Most of the time I drank my coffee black because it didn’t need anything added to it. The fresh coffee is definitely one of the things I miss the most. Both the cafés and restaurants were completely open which I loved. As I ate lunch at different places I could feel a light breeze from outside come in. Restaurants had a few different aspects such as when silverware was placed on the table it was in plastic bags. Another was when we were done eating we had to go to the cashier who had our checks to pay instead of at the table. The first time we ate at a restaurant it was very confusing because our waiter thought we were still talking and relaxing, while we were waiting for him to bring our check. It was a while until we saw our professors walking by so we could ask them what to do. Most restaurants the menus were in both Spanish and English which made it easier for us to pick what we wanted. My favorite part of eating in Costa Rica was the fruit was so unbelievably fresh. You could go to any restaurant and there would be a couple fruit dishes on the menu and they were wonderful. There were also multiple fruit drinks available at the restaurants that were also incredible because they were made with real fruit. On most of the drinks there would be a big piece of that fruit on the side. While at these amazing restaurants it was normal for us to want to tip our waiter because that is considered rude in the states if you don’t. In Costa Rica however it is not common or expected to tip. While there I was encouraged to try a hamburger and hot dog. I had the opportunity to try a hot dog since my host mom made them and let me just say they are nothing like home. I personally did not enjoy eating that hot dog because it wasn’t close to the same. One aspect I miss is the unexpected guests we would have at lunch. At multiple restaurants there were iguanas that were in or on the balcony of the restaurants. While this may seem strange it fit the setting and gave those restaurants something that the restaurants here never could have.
– Katherine Kostuk
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