Week Two: Foods and Customs

My family eats many foods that they consider to be "native" Costa Rican foods. For them, this means that it is bought locally and prepared traditionally. This means the fruit, beans, rice, etc. Typical Costa Rican dishes, like arroz y frijoles or garbanzos y pollo are very popular for my family. My tica mom especially enjoys white rice, so it is available for every dinner meal. Additionally, we have a main course and a salad or vegetable dish. The main course is often a mixture of a meat (mostly chicken in my family) and vegetables and potatoes. There are also often beans (mostly black beans) with dinner. A typical breakfast for my family is fruit and bread with jelly. My tica mom and I drink tea and my tica dad drinks coffee.

Bananas, watermelon, cantaloupe, and strawberries. This is a typical breakfast for me. My tica family will often also have bread with jelly. 

Potatoes, white rice, black beans, and a Costa Rican dish of eggs and green onions. This is a typical dinner and is generally accompanied by a freshly made glass of refresco. 

My family rarely eats together. This is mostly because of our different schedules. On a typical day, my older tica sister gets up very early to go to school, so she eats first (she is generally leaving the house when I wake up at 630). My younger sister will eat, depending on whether she has morning or afternoon school that day, with her older sister or with her brother. My tica dad and I usually eat together and my tica mom will eat with my younger sister. My tica brother rises the latest because his school has not started yet. In the evening, everyone eats dinner when they return from school/work. My younger sister and I typically eat together a couple hours after I get back from Meso. My mom typically eats with my dad when he gets back from work at around 9:30pm. My older sister and brother eat when they get back from work and soccer practice respectively. This is different for me because my family back home has always eaten dinner together (most of the time). My tica mom, however, typically sits with each person and drinks a cup of coffee and/or eats some soda crackers with each meal. Another custom that was different for me is that my tica mom prepares each person's plate for them. Not being able to regulate my own food portions has been a difficult adjustment, but I recognize the care behind the gesture and am getting used to it. I was slightly uncomfortable at first because in the States, it is rude to sit at the table and expect to be served. It is much more polite to offer to help with serving/making dinner and it is expected that the children (at least in my house) clean up after dinner. Here, my tica mom would be surprised and taken aback if any of us tried to do more than move our dishes to the sink when we were finished. In general, the customs surrounding food are a good way to sense some of the core values of a culture. I believe that the values of Costa Rican culture represented by their customs, like emphasis on schooling (students are expected to focus on their studies instead of helping around the house) and care of the family by the mother.