Costa Rica Recipes - Its geographical location and the strong amalgamation of cultures in its lap ensures that Costa Rica have an eclectic food palate. True, the recipes of Costa Rica have not gained the cult status that Mexican or other South American cuisines have received, but that only goes to show how under explored food from down here really is.

In Costa Rica, like in a lot of traditional countries all over the world, food is much more than a source of sustenance. It is a way of bringing families and communities together, it is an excuse for lazy afternoons and it is the reason people can put in 18 hours a day at work. Work places and schools in Costa Rica still close down during the scorching afternoons to allow businessmen and kids to run back home to a plate of hot food.

In the Costa Rican society meals are an important part of familial bonding. Lunch is the most relished and the most important meal of the day. The lunch table is where fathers joke with their sons and mothers mock their toothy daughters. While this has obvious social importance it also serves a distinct dietary function. Most of us at work tend to gobble up our lunch in a meager 20 minutes (or less) that we are allotted as a break. Any hurried eating of this sort, as we all know, is quite a deterrent to proper metabolic processes. The slow munching of food as over a regular luncheon table in Costa Rica, interspersed with quite talk and laughter is perfect for proper metabolic processes. Perhaps it is because of this eating habit that Costa Ricans tend to be an active race.

Costa Ricans, as a rule, eat in small portions. Most meals revolve around the two staple food; rice and beans. Gallo Pinto, a traditional Costa Rican dish, for instance consists of 3 parts black beans and 2 parts rice mixed with liberal quantities of garlic, onion and salt. Meat eating is hardly popular. But when eaten the choice is restricted within the pork, chicken, beef bracket. Organ meat is often used in various non-vegetarian dishes, and every soft organ from the brain to the liver and the eyes can be found on the menu.
Seafood is popular (as expected, given that the country has water on both sides) but expensive since most of it is exported.

Vegetables such as tomatoes, plantains, beans and fruits also feature high on the daily menu. Costa Rican food has often been blasted for its high content of saturated fats. What very few people realize is that the high fiber content of most meals (in the form of beans and other vegetables) tends to cut down on the fatty part, making it one of the most scientific palettes in the world.

San Jose is choc-a-bloc with hundreds of new restaurants and cafes. Here traditional Costa Rican food intermingles with cuisine from all over the world and gains a totally new, distinct identity of its own. Besides foodstuff beverages such as the famous Costa Rican coffee and sugarcane soaked in hot water are both extremely popular. Various plantain (a banana like vegetable) preparations also sell like hot cakes.

The customary Costa Rica recipes, rice and beans dish is usually served with a carrot and cabbage or lettuce and tomato salad. The portions of salads are usually larger than the main rice and bean portions. Fried shrimp or chicken, also makes its way to the table.