Piñas

I think that the pineapple for Costa Rica, in terms of consumption, can be compared to the strawberry for the States.  It is eaten  raw most of the time when the whole fruit is eaten.  Additionally, however, it is in jellies and desserts and juices.  Candies and other flavored snacks are sold with a pineapple flavoring. This is similar to our treatment of the strawberry.  My family eats pineapple primarily as the raw fruit for breakfast. Almost every day I have a big pile of pineapple. 

My family said that there used to be more white pineapple sold here, but now there is pretty much only one kind.  Or at least that they couldn't distinguish between different kinds.  

Pineapple is a very important export crop in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is the third largest exporter of pineapple in the world. Just like with bananas, the best of the best gets exported and the second best (or maybe even third or fourth best) stays here for sale. My mom talked about that a lot, but since she loves pineapple she says she couldn't imagine how the best of the best would taste since what they have here is so good. 

My mom also talked about the cultivation of the pineapple here. Just like bananas, pineapples are mostly cultivated by Nicaraguans (I wasn't sure if that was just a stereotype, so I googled it and it said that 60% of pineapple workers are Nicaraguan). My family does not have any prejudice against Nicaraguans because my tico dad's best friend in colegio was a Nicaraguan immigrant. Hearing about who cultivates the pineapples, however, made me wonder if there are any of the same connotations to pineapples as there are for bananas. My tica mom seemed to think that there was some prejudice but that it mostly just came from prejudice against Nicaraguans in general and didn't impact the pineapple industry. She did say that pineapple workers are not paid very much. Beyond the vaguely racial connotations, my tica mom did not think the pineapple symbolized much of anything. She said its value lay in its export value. 

Pineapple juice served with our dinner.  

Piña Colada with a slice of fresh pineapple on the side. 

Pineapples are very commonly used as flavoring here in Costa Rica. This means that it is in juices and cookies and candies and jellies. In the US, we mainly eat our pineapple raw and then it is a special treat because it is exotic and expensive. 

Pineapples!

In my family pineapple is not as popular as bananas and papayas. Don’t get me wrong, my family likes pineapple, but it is not eaten as frequently as bananas and papayas are. When I asked my family about pineapples, the consensus seemed to be that pineapples are great assets to the Costa Rican culture, eaten as a raw fruit and in jellies. Every time that I have had pineapple with my family it has been for breakfast, in a jelly, or in a pineapple jelly filled empanada. My family discussed that pineapple is great for breakfast and a snack, but after asking why the fruit might be important to Costa Rica, they didn’t have much to say. They briefly told me about the white pineapple from the past, and they discussed the export of pineapples to Europe and the United States. To me, it seems that my family has a different outlook on pineapples than other Ticans might have. They don’t seem to hold the strong new symbolic value that pineapples might have to other Ticans.

However, after observing pineapples at the Mas por Menos and at venders on the main road in Sabanilla, pineapples are very popular and prevalent. Its fascinating to see more products with pineapple in them here than in the U.S. Its very common to have pineapple juice for a meal or to have pineapple jelly with toast in Costa Rica, but in the States these things are rare. In the U.S. Pineapple is mostly associated with the raw fruit or something to put in a smoothie. In Costa Rica, it seems that the country has found more ways to use pineapple since like most fruits has a very short “shelf life.” With that being said, I have also found it interesting that my family eats pineapples very over ripe. With that increased ripeness, they have so much flavor, but almost too acidic for me. This statement can probably be made in my final blog, but studying foods like pineapples has really shown me just how important they are to Costa Rica. I never realized that pineapples could represent more than just a type of fruit but the type of economy that a country has. This concept is so foreign to me, because this is not necessarily so in the United States. While we have products made in the States, our economy is rapped around many more commodities than Costa Rica deals with. I think I am slowly starting to see just how reliant Costa Rica is on its exports, including its export of pineapples.

Here is a picture of one of the two trucks within two blocks of Mas por Menos that sold all kinds of fruits including pineapples. They all still have the stems on them, but the sellers offer to remove them for you!

Por Fin... La Piña!!!! :) :) :)

            I was ecstatic when I realized that we got to write an entire blog on pineapples… after all, they’re my favorite! My Tica mom always makes fun of me for how I rave about them, so these questions came as no shock to she and Tamara. They said that pineapple is eaten either for breakfast or dessert. It’s most often eaten in slices, raw or uncooked. Though, Tamara said sometimes her mom makes a jam with it for coffee time, to eat on bread. It’s also used in various juices at my house, though usually mixed with other things because it’s naturally so sweet and such a strong flavor. Pineapple is found in a lot of pastries, jams, and drinks. They were sort of confused when I asked what different types of pineapple have been grown and/or sold in Costa Rica. They said the white pineapple is not common here and the “normal” kind is all they know. I’m always interested to know what sort of diversity used to exist in the past when it comes to food commodities. Although I don’t think that the pineapple is likely to have changed too much… right? Or maybe it has, but not recently because it’s such a staple and pictures, advertisements and historical descriptions seem to refer to the same pineapple with the golden interior and intimidating beautiful exterior.

            My family didn’t have too much to say about the significance of pineapple. They only realize that it’s an export that is grown in Costa Rica and exported to consumer countries. This means, like the banana and coffee, wealth for Costa Rica. It was interesting that coffee was so revolutionary and highly regarded and is so culturally significant in many aspects to this day. Even the banana seemed to have more significance to my Tica mom when we were discussing it. It’s interesting that the pineapple is not such a sense of pride, more just an acknowledgement and something that has meaning, without the words expressing it. It seems that it is more of an internal value than an external value (at least while talking to my Tico family). In our readings, the pineapple is regarded as a classy, hospitable, expensive, and highly valued fruit for all it encounters. It’s even given royal connotations, that’s crazy for a fruit. This symbolism that we learned about in our reading did not seem to carry over in the perception of the pineapple for my Tico family. They said the symbol was that it is a fruit that is exported to other countries, nothing social or really significantly affecting their daily lives.

            In the US it is a rare treat to eat fresh pineapple. When we eat fresh food in our house, it’s not usually fruits. It’s usually locally grown produce from our local farmer’s market in St. Mary’s County. So, this means that fruits in general are not as much of a priority in my house as vegetables. I can only think of having canned or plastically pre-stored pineapple in mixed fruits for school lunches. Occasionally at summer social gatherings for swim team or a picnic, we might have fresh pineapple, but it’s always been rare for my family. Not that my Tico family eats it daily, it’s still a treat, but we definitely have fresh fruit more readily available.

            I do love pineapples though and wish I could eat them all the time! Even if there is a limit to how much acidity one’s mouth can handle… It’s worth it! :)

There's Pineapple in this commonly consumed Mixed Fruit Juice!! :) YUM! 

This is a local market with fresh fruit... aka LOTS of PINEAPPLE!!!! :) YAY!

And here's a semi-typical breakfast! :) Which, as you should take note, has  a fruit plate... FILLED with DELICIOUS pineapple! :) Successful morning! :)

That Newish fruit Crop- Pina in Costa Rica

Pineapples have become one of the world's favorite food items. As we learned from The Pineapple King of Fruits  by Fran Beauman and Pineapples Culture by Gary Okihiro, the fruit was a near instant hit because of its extremely sweet taste. and the fact that it is not like other normal fruits. As made visible in the picture above, pineapples do not look very appetizing or attractive to eat, but once the rough outer shell is cut through, the fruit on the inside is easily on of the best fruits in the world. The result of pineapples finding favor taste wise throughout the world, is that its production has become a very large and profitable industry, and the pineapples that are eaten today are grown all around the world. As of relatively recently, as in the during the 21st Century, pineapple consumption and production has grown and is now an important part of Costa Rican society and the economy.

Pineapples are very important to Costa Rican society, especially food wise. It has been the most common fruit I have noticed available during breakfast time. It was also the first fruit that my host family offered me my first breakfast, and it still continues to this point. Based on the frequency with which my host family buys pineapples and the speed at which it is eaten, I can come to the conclusion that pineapple is one my family's favorite foods. Every weekend on Sunday my Tica mom buys two pinapples from the feria or farmers market, but they are generally both eaten away by Wednesday dinner time. The fruit is served for breakfast, but after asking them about how they use the fruit, they take some of it to work and school, and in the case of my tica dad he loves to make smoothies with the fresh pineapple. According to my host family, pineapples are used different ways in Costa Rican food. You can have them served in slices as normal, or you can buy them in various pastries, in smoothies, on pizza, salads and even in jam. I have noticed that my tico family buys and uses a lot of pineapple jam with their bread for breakfast or for the cookies around coffee time.

According to my host dad there are also different types of pineapples. Some of the pineapples include the Criolla type, the dorado and the Hawaiian. Although these are the different available types of pineapples in Costa Rica, my tico dad has acknowledged the fact that the Hawaiian pineapples are the most common and that it is the type of pineapple most purchased and kept in the house. He claims that the Hawaiian brand of pineapple is so common and popular because it is the most widely produced by the new large scale fruit companies. The pineapple industry has become a large source of income in Costa Rica, and people have realized its new importance. My host family told me during discussion about the fruit, that pineapples porduction is important for the economy. That being said my family likes to buy pineapples because they are local grown. Implied importance of the pineapple industry and pride in local grown pineapples means that pineapples are developing a new cultural significance, one that is higher than bananas. When I compare it to coffee and bananas my Tico dad was quick to distinguish that the value of pineapples was not as high as coffee, but definitely better than bananas.

Pineapples in Costa Rica are used and incorporated in many different products and sold in many different ways. Similar to the rest of the world, one of the main ways to buy pineapples is in the whole fruit form from the grocery or market. The picture above shows me at Mas por Menos, the local grocery store, holding a whole pineapple produced by Dole, a large international fruit producing company. It was also possible to purchase canned pineapples, but they didn't seem to be very popular. As mentioned earlier pineapple is sold in pastries, as a jam, in smoothies and in other mixed fruit drinks. The fruit drinks and smoothies seem to be one of the more popular ways that they are sold outside of the whole fruit. It was interesting however, that in the grocery, and it was relatively large, there was not a large selection of fresh pineapples. As in the picture, this pineapple looks very green, similar to 8 or 9 others that were available to choose from. Pineapples are more widely sold in the fruit stores and by the fruit vendors on the side of the roads. They tend have the better looking and more pineapples for probably cheaper.

Compared to the pineapples culture in the United States, for one all the available fruits are available in groceries. Since pineapples are not grown in the US, they are imported to the groceries and so there are no vendors or small fruit stores that have sweeter or better pineapples available. As a result in the US pineapples are also more expensive in the US and eaten more among the upper class and in the middle class, where people have the money to purchase the fruit. In Costa Rica, because production is local and widespread, the fruit is a lot cheaper and enjoyed by more different social classes. As a result pineapple is more important in Costa Rica than the United States because it is available everyday and is therefore more entrenched in culture whereas in the US pineapples is more of a novelty or specialty fruit from the tropics, although there are many products with pineapples. The majority of the those pineapples are processed and not the same as the fresh pineapples that are eaten in the Costa Rica.

Pina!

Pineapple is a fruit that I have eaten weekly here in Costa Rica. My Tica Mom gets it fresh for me to have with my breakfasts in the mornings. And I've also eaten it with her after dinner as a little dessert. My Tica Mom told me that pineapple can be eaten cooked (we had a dinner with cooked pineapple and beef), in a juice, fresh, in salads, and smoothies. I've also seen pineapple jelly, but have not tasted it.

The pineapple like bananas and coffee are grown in Costa Rica for export to benefit the country's economy. That is the only reason my Tica Mom gave me for the importance of the pineapple to Costa Rica. I was also pretty surprised that she had no idea what the pineapple symbolized for Costa Ricans. All we've been reading about in class is how the pineapple was the "King/Princess of all fruits" and served as a symbol of pride and culture. But now thinking back a lot of what people in the United States and Europe think about the pineapple came from the explorers and royalty who first ate pineapples and how advertisements were used to manipulate what people thought about the pineapple. Even early in the pineapple's history its inside and outside powers were already being created.

My first picture is from the market that we went to a few weeks back. While we were there pineapples were available pretty much at every other table. They are also readily sold in the grocery stores as whole fruit or in other forms like juice! I've never really thought about all of the different ways that pineapples are used here in Costa Rica because at home in the US I only eat them raw or in smoothies. But every time I have the fruit it's in the raw form. Being in Costa Rica has made me appreciate the pineapple and all of its different forms as well as the history behind the fruit.

Pais de Pina

After this semester, I can easily say that pineapple is my favorite fruit. In the U.S., my family never buys fresh pineapples. If we ever have it, it is canned, and not nearly as delicious as the real thing. I feel like the reasons we don't buy pineapples is because of the formidable figure it imposes and the tropical connotations that still exist left from the Europeans during the conquest. Canned pineapple seems much more domestic and modern-kitchen friendly. I am very excited that this semester has helped me realize how much a pineapple has to offer, the delicious inside that exists under its pinecone exterior. Likewise, I am glad that I have gotten to see past the tropical image of Costa Rica, and gotten to immerse myself in a culture that has much to offer, and is surprisingly similar to my own.

Here, pineapple is eaten fresh and also in desserts. I have it many mornings sliced up for breakfast, but it is not uncommon for it to be eaten throughout the day. When I asked my Tico mom if there were different kinds of pineapples being sold now than formerly, she said that export pineapples are the best and sweetest, and then Costa Ricans are sold the rest. While this didn't exactly answer what I was trying to ask, it points out the importance of pineapples as an export for Costa Rica's economy. Pineapples have and still play a large role in the history and economy of Costa Rica. To the U.S., pineapples symbolize the tropical environments they come from. To Costa Ricans, they seem to symbolize a source of pride for the product they grow and cultivate and export to other places who respect pineapples for their savory taste. Kind of like a piece of the tropics they share with the rest of the world, for a profit.

One thing I have noticed while I have been here, is that at McDonald's, instead of apple pie, they have a pineapple pastry, and instead of apples in a happy meal, they have pineapples. This shows that pineapples are very prevalent in Costa Rica and ties back into how these fast food chains have adapted to these countries to fit in and offer specialized items to their audience. Looking around the supermarket, pineapples are in many desserts and jellies. It is clear that pineapples play a large role in Costa Rican's diets. In Mas por Menos, pineapples are piled up in crates with the rest of the fruits. Some have their hair shaved off to make them easier to purchase.

Pina

Pineapple in Costa Rica is definitely eaten throughout the day and in many different forms.  From observation and speaking with my family, pineapple can be seen as a raw fruit, a juice, fruit salad, desserts, marmalade, yogurt, milk shakes, smoothies, etc.  These pineapple foods are not just only eaten for breakfast, but throughout the day, in all meals.  Many people are accustomed to eating fruit after lunch and dinner, as a dessert, because they realize that pineapple and other fruits are important for health reasons and are a source of beneficial vitamins.  This is a change from the past, because people are more aware of the fact that they can use the pineapple in many different forms, not just raw.  I attribute this to the fact that Costa Ricans are more in touch with what they eat and they understand that foods can be prepared and eaten at different times and in different forms.  This also ties in to how pineapples are economically important to Costa Rica, because it is an export crop, which leads to the dependency model.  Import nations (global north - US) are dependent on the export nations (global south – CR), but at the same time export nations are dependent on the global north for economic reasons.  Hence the reason why monocrops cause so many problems, because the dependency on that one crop is so large, that when disease strikes, the economy drops significantly. 

The readings about pineapple discussed symbolism and significance, but primarily in the eyes of the US.  The inferiority of the tropics to the temperature zone was personified through the pineapple.  When the pineapple was started being grown in hothouses, Europeans believed that had an (artificial) Eden, allowing them to make their own wealth without dependence on the tropics.  Although pineapple used to signify wealth and status in the tropics, it seems as though there is no connotation with the pineapple.  The reading, however, does describe the pineapple as a symbol of hospitality in the US, but fails to describe its symbol in the tropics today.  When I asked my Tica mom about significance of the pineapple, she gave me a weird look as if “it’s just a food that we eat and export, nada mas.”  I explained that in the United States it is sometimes referred to as the symbol of hospitality, which she thought was weird, but also made her think about expressions that use the word pina.

·      When there are many different varieties of breadà  “una pina de pan”

·      If you go to the bank and there are a lot of peopleà “hay una pina de gente”

·      When a lot of people arrive by car/bus/etc. à “todos a pinados”

·      “Hechos una pina”

She had no explanation as to what the relationship is between the pineapple and a lot of people/things.  I found this interesting, because there are a lot of expressions in the United States that we simply cannot explain.  Even though the reading doesn’t mention any current significance of the pineapple in the tropics, I’m very interested in knowing whether there just isn’t any significance now or whether the above expressions symbolize something greater than just a lot of people/things.