Food of Costa Rica

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Before I visit any place, I always try to find out what my options are with food, what is local and famous. When I was doing online research and reading guide books in Costa Rica, I didn't find much being mentioned about food. The only comment about food was that it was bland and there weren't any specific suggestions. Costa Rican's eat simple and the dishes comprise of simple local ingredients. Rice and beans are staple and constitute the major portion of a meal. Rice and beans don't sound very inviting but they make something called "gallo pinto" by mixing the two, and that with scrmbled eggs is super delicious. I have been having 'gallo pinto' and eggs everyday for breakfast and I'm simply loving it. There is also pleanty of seafood to be had in Costa Rica. At Manuel Antonio we ate some wonderful fish rice made with fresh mahi mahi and fresh calamari fries at a small restaurant near the beach. This has been by far my best meal in Costa Rica. I'm a fish and seafood monger and I can't resist the urge to eat more and more of that. At our last evening at the Volcano Lodge, we went to the restaurant withing the Lodge premises to try out thier dinner special which was Tilapia and fresh river lobsters. I have had river lobsters in India on different occasions but I must admit that this was the first time I truly loved eating it. The preparation wasn't fancy, the spices weren' over-powering, it was delicious. The whole ordeal was kind of messy and gross but when it comes to devouring something truly divine in taste I don't care for civility. It is not just expensive ingredients and high profile chefs in fancy restaurants which makes food taste expensive. Often, conditions, environment and the mood aroud you makes an extremely simple meal taste heavenly. Yesterday we went on a kayaking trip on the mangroves of Damas Island. When we returned after three hours we saw that our meal was being prepared at the kayak shack by a local guy. He told us that he was making fish (wahoo) for us.The meal again comprised of rice, beans, fish, boiled veggies, salad and a sweet plantain dish. I thought this was the coolest meal I ever had better than at any restaurant.

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Photos

gallo pinto
rice+beans+eggs