This week was an interesting one in terms of things learned because for three days I got to walk around San Jose, San Pedro, a little bit of Guadalupe andSabinilla so I feel like I know this place fairly well. I know there is much to learn, but I have seen so much this past weekend. This coupled with the searching through the area surrounding the UCR, I have seen a few restaurants around the way. The first stop was a typical soda, the one under the law building that Stephanie and Linda had talked about. It was good and it had a fairly good value. This is a picture of the menu.
Nothing particularly special, and since the quality is pretty awful, you can’t even really read it very well, if at all, but it was quick, but clearly “homemade” if you will. There were also many options that I saw available to chose between for each different plate.
The next place I went to, much to many people on this trips chagrin, was Taco Bell. It was actually quite good and similar to the Taco Bells in the United States. It felt nicer, and the menu was actually a TV monitor that had a few moving graphics. Here is a picture of the menu.
The food was good, the service was quick and it is the only place that I have found so far in Costa Rica that will actually give a refill! This I found interesting for a few reasons. First, I feel like refills are an essential part of a meal. This however is probably my ethnocentrism acting up and saying more is better and not understanding why Costa Rica doesn’t have them. Is it the expense or is it a long understood cultural difference that I cannot even begin to postulate a reason of origin. While I don’t know this answer, I know that Taco Bell did me a solid and let me get a second glass of Pepsi. It was funny, in the United States we pretend Taco Bell is a Mexican food place (few actually buy it, but the perception persists), but here, the store is strictly a Gringo locale.
The next restaurant that I visited was a Chinese one in the center of San Jose. What struck me was that while there were differences, there were also some strict similarities between the Costa Rican foods and the Chinese food offered at this particular restaurant. For example, in almost every dish, rice is the primary food, I realize that in many Chinese restaurants this is the case, however, it should be pointed out that there was rice literally everywhere and less of an emphasis on the other foods like shrimp or chicken. In nearly (not all), every dish there were the food that tied the others together, usually housing the alternate food. What I mean is that when you got chicken, it was in rice. When you got shrimp, it was in rice. There were some other weird things, such as the fact that you could buy whole fried chickens that were in fact just sitting out for all to see and to purchase. This is the menu.
There were many options of combinations, and you were to turn around (assuming you were looking where the camera was), you would find a large list of food options for a more individual sale.
Changing pace to my conversation with my family…
I asked the first question and immediately found my self in the middle of a social class discussion. According to my Tico mom, there are three main classes, each of which can be represented by the amount that they eat out. The first is called “clase baja,” (assuming I can spell correctly anyway). This class is the lowest and doesn’t eat out much at all, and when they do it is only for special occasions and even then it is only to a place like McDonalds or something like that. For the next class, “clase media,” the middle class, eating at places like McDonalds is not uncommon, however neither is it something that is done often. They will eat out at a “nice restaurant” once or twice a year. “Clase Alto,” or the upper class, eating out is common, no matter where or how expensive. I think this relation makes perfect sense, but makes me wonder if the distinctions are much more distinct here than in the United States. Immediately my Tico mom went to a social class difference, not to what her and her friends do. In the United States even the middle class eats out at nice(ish) restaurants, even if it is a bit expensive. This train of thought makes me wonder what the fiscal nature of Ticans’s is compared to the United States is. Are they tight pocketed or do they spend more or the same?
Popular restaurants in Costa Rica are all of the chain restaurants from the United States. My Tico mom and dad answered this question and it took no time. No Costa Rican restaurant is really as popular, and the ones that are cost more than most can afford. These are La Casa Dona Lela, La Fiesta de Maiz, and La Casona del Cerdo. What I found truly fascinating from this answer is that the quick and easy food from these places is that they are just that: quick and easy, as well as being very American (United Statesian if you will). We as gringo’s get the rap for being rushed and not being based off of a family nucleus, but is that so true still? Many families don’t eat together here. Many people don’t live with their parents. Many people are not close with their siblings. Many people like to eat at theses supposed American restaurants. So my question, which is more rhetorical in nature, is that is this seeming disconnect from what is supposed to be, family based, slow, loving, and culturally anchored society and what I have seen implying a shift in the Costa Rican way of life? I find it similar to the stereotype/nostalgic/somewhat existent understanding that Southern Culture means taking meals with your family and going to church every Sunday. Food for thought ;).
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