week 4 restaurants

In talking with my family, I learned that, for the most part, people eat at restaurants for special occasions. And then too, it’s often the younger generations. For Valentine’s Day, a holiday which is just more recently becoming celebrated here, my adult brother and sister went out to dinner on a double date together, because it was a special day to go out.  My tica mom, however, I think prefers to stay in and cook the meal for her family, even for these special occasions.

I feel there isn’t really a generational gap in the US in terms of eating out at restaurants; it is fairly common to eat out-whether that is fast food or a five-star restaurant.  It is less common to have a fresh, hot, family meal every night because of the faster-paced lifestyle.  However, I feel that, in a way, because of that, we hold a value for home-cooked meals as well, a value people hold here here on a daily basis.  It is something special at home when for someone’s birthday or a holiday the family spends the day in the kitchen, and the ingredients are fresh, and the family eats together.  Because this way of thinking about food is the norm here, eating out has become a way, at least for some people, to designate a special day as different from the others.  In the US, I think we eat out a lot, often not simply for special occasions, but more so an excuse not to have to cook. Here, even though eating out is becoming more popular, I don’t feel like it is for a way out of cooking. I feel it holds a deeper significance to most people when they go out, whether that is a date, or a holiday, and at the same time, the value of the fresh, home-cooked meal is maintained (regardless of whether it is practiced all of the time). However, on the flip-side of that, my adult sister only gets fast food, like McDonald’s if she is really late coming home from work and will miss family dinner. In this case, the home-cooked meal is still what holds value, and what is preferred, and the eating out-is for lack of time.  However, I remember, discussing that for many, the McDonald’s atmosphere here is for special occasions; they are pricier than the US and draw in families due to their play areas. In the end, I guess, as in the US, it really depends on the family and family structure and the values still upheld within that structure.

Foreign restaurants, also including fast food chains, are very prevalent in the city.  My family raves about this Italian restaurant near UCR, but they also think that Chinese restaurants are very popular here. I have also noticed fusion restaurants here; the most surprising one I passed was a Japanese-Italian restaurant.   While these foreign restaurants do not have a negative connotation, at least to my family, they are seeping their way in to the culture and beginning, whether consciously or not, to alter lifestyles and cultural norms.

In general, I feel that the restaurants here a set up similarly to the US. I found that the restaurants with typical Costa Rican food had less food options and were often less expensive than the chain-food restaurants. I noticed also that the meals take a lot longer to be served here and the service seems to be slower.  I think this goes along with the culture here. There are fewer options and the meals take longer to be served because they are made with fresh ingredients and often made-to-order.  For the most part here, eating is not about eating as fast as you can on your lunch break; it’s about slowing down and enjoying the freshly made meal. At one restaurant I ate at this past weekend, we at dinner there and sat at the table talking in a span of almost 4 hours. In the US I think this wouldn’t often happen.  We want our food as fast as we possible, often not even caring to think about how much of it really isn’t fresh, and then we are on to our next activity.