If you are wondering... What does Costa Rica taste like? Well, it tastes like a mixture of cultures! Just visit a fair and take a look at (or better yet taste!) the variety of dishes available: various picadillos (finely chopped cooked vegetables sometimes mixed with ground beef) thanks to the influence from Spain, delicious corn based dishes reflect our indigenous culture, pan bon (a rum spiked fruitcake) comes from our Afro-Caribbean culture and of course chop suey "Tico style", from our oriental influences.
So you see... Tiquicia tastes "todo un poquito" "Like a little of everything" and that is part of our Costa Rican heritage.
Gallo Pinto (Rice with Beans)
Native Costa Rican cooking has not changed very much over many decades. The manner in which it is prepared may have changed, the cooking utensils used, the kitchen implements (we see less and less wood burning stoves nowadays) and a couple of ingredients, but the essence remains the same: simple dishes with great home cooked flavor that give us that comfy feeling of being at home.
If we speak about what the principal foods of native Costa Rican cooking are, we have to of course include rice, beans, corn, vegetables and meat. These form the basis of most meals prepared in the Tico home. For example, the traditional disk called "olla de carne" which contains vegetables, meat and, depending on taste can be accompanied by white rice and tortillas, which are usually home made.
Another characteristic of native Costa Rican (Tico) cooking is the abundance of dishes. For example, our traditional breakfast, the "gallo pinto� (rice with beans) which is accompanied by eggs, cheese, bread or tortillas and sour cream, and of course, by a cup of Costa Rican coffee, which is renowned worldwide for its unmatched quality.
Lunches are equally varied offering: sopa de mondongo, sopa de albondigas and the ever-present �casado�, which consists of a plate with fish, meat, of chicken in sauce, accompanied by rice, beans, sweet plantain, picadillo, egg, salad and mashed potatoes or yucca. We also cannot forget the famous �gallos� which are similar to tacos and have some type of meat or picadillo. Or perhaps you have a hunger for a chicharr�n (crispy fried pork rinds) or chorizo (sausage) or a potato gallo?
There are also dishes prepared according to time of the year like the pork tamales or eggnog for Christmas or the chiverre (a squash like vegetable) and bean tamales prepared for Easter week. And we can�t leave out the desserts, like torrejas (bread and tapa de dulce), the presti�os, the cajetas, filled yams, mazamorra, milk and rice, sweet corn tamales, and honeys made of coconut, chiverre, and jocote).
As far as native drinks go, you can also see the mixture of cultures. From the indigenous �vino de coyol� to the very well known �rompope�. Thanks to the abundance of tropical fruits, it is very commonplace to find cas, mora, pineapple, guan�bana and papaya drinks among others. There are also very Costa Rican drinks like resbaladera, horchata, sweet water �agua dulce� and tamarindo.
You visit to Costa Rica would be incomplete, not to mention less yummy, if you don�t taste for yourself all of these delicious treats! So take a leap into a tropical gastronomic adventure and taste what the land of �Pura Vida� can offer you to eat.
Art and Culture 
