Semana Dos! :) :) :)

Typical Meals (I've Eaten) in Costa Rica!!! :) YUM!!!

Breakfast (at home)

Lunch (At MesoAmerica)

Dinner (At Home)

Dinner (In Limón)

            I learned that the majority of foods “native” to Costa Rica are fruits. My tico mom told me that mangos, strawberries, melons, guayabana, bananas, and pineapple are the most common. It is also common to have native gallo pinto, rice and beans with cilantro, a dish commonly eaten with just about every meal. It is interesting to look at the three main meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner and how they differ from the United States. Breakfast is huge! Typically I will have eggs, ham, and cheese, with some sort of toast (pastry or cereal), as well as a type of fruit (or juice), and always coffee! Lunch is typically smaller with gallo pinto or a sandwich, depending on the way. Dinner is much later than what I’m used to; we eat between 6:00 and 7:00pm. (Although my family will often times have coffee and pastries around 4:00pm.) My mom always serves our portions, they are not too large, but they sure were the first few days that I was here in Costa Rica. My dad’s job is not to cook or serve food, but typically he will serve us our fruit drinks and will almost always clean up from dinner. Typically, my schedule does not align with everyone else, so I eat breakfast alone, and lunch is at school of course. Dinner, we almost always eat together. The only exceptions are if Tomás (my 15 year old brother) is at a friend’s house or the timing doesn’t work with a class at church.

            The pictures I have are of breakfast, it is meant to be consumed at a relaxed pace. I imagine that in the typical mornings, although rushing because it’s early, they are eating together at the table. I find myself leaving a lot more than just thirty seconds to grab a breakfast bar, or five minutes in Acorn or Irazú to grab a coffee and go. I have to plan around my schedule the daily routine of eating a full course breakfast and not getting coffee to go.

            I have fallen into US cultural biases of how food is consumed. It is common to eat in my room at school our out with friends for a meal. Coffee is often made in my apartment, but it’s rare that people come over for coffee- its more of a necessity for college functioning or a social gathering outside of the home. This is a difference in a lot of the social perceptions of Costa Ricans and the US’s perception of eating. In US we eat out a lot more often and get food to go commonly, this is not typically the case in Costa Rica. I value the ability to relate food to a social time, as they do in Costa Rica, but social time is typically with family, not friends. It is also typically in homes, which is great, but it’s strange to me sometimes that the family comes over for dinner- we only get together as an extended family for holidays, graduations, and various celebrations throughout the year.

            In class we have talked about the revolutionary changes of the Columbian Exchange. Although considered “native” now, Costa Rica would not have had coffee or rice without the exchange. It is interesting to see how dependent they are on foods that were not at first available there, now the art has been perfected and Costa Rican coffee is considered some of the best in the entire world! This just blows my mind! I cannot imagine Costa Rican culture without coffee, and neither can they! In fact, this is so relevant because they even changed history. Verbal history is that coffee and rice are “native” to Costa Rica.

            I feel a little uncomfortable about eating alone. It seems that culturally, it is so important to eat with your family and with my schedule it’s pretty hard to do that. I also miss out on cultural experiences such as 4pm afternoon coffee and going to church with my family on Sundays. It is not that I would not like to go, I just have other Elon priorities, and this is where some dissonance comes in. Obviously, I love the weekend excursions and I try my best to take every opportunity to maximize the learning and experiences. At the same time, I stop using consistent Spanish and investing in the lives of my family, there are gaps in the day-to-day routine. It is probably an even sacrifice of time and experiences to visit these tourist places that show other parts of the country, but I cannot help but feel like I am taking the “easy,” “American (US)” mindset to tico culture and just taking it in small doses. I really want to fully immerse myself and it seems the lack of routine might be throwing it off a bit.

            I am really beginning to appreciate the food that I eat and the value of knowing where it comes from. In Limón, we visited a local market and it was a quite humbling experience. They only accepted donations and yet we tasted just about everything. I had at least 2 bananas, 2 pieces of pineapple, half an orange, and a few bites of papaya, and other tastes as well (and there were over twenty of us!) This makes me really want to support local markets, the food tends to be much better quality and genuinely supporting the people is really what it should all be about. I admire the lack of greed and monetary driven “success” in Costa Rica. The community and common value of the majority seems to be a genuine priority.

            I have enjoyed learning about these new, fresh, delicious foods and where they come from. There is so much more to come. I subconsciously reach for the processed, mystery foods of the US that I am accustomed to over the natural fruits sometimes. I found myself craving hot tamale candy when we were talking about desserts, even though the smell of the cinnamon roll down the street was quite powerful. I am striving to re-learn the value of food and hopefully incorporate this appreciation into my everyday life. I am planning on changing my habits and cravings of eating one day at a time. For example, today I didn’t have fruit for breakfast, so I was sure to have some for lunch. Although it will be a process, the journey has only just begun!