Thursday, November 19, 2015

Food and Variety

I have recounted over several posts about the 10 days I spent in beautiful Costa Rica.  I talked a bit about sleeping on the floor, bathing in the cool waters of the creek, etc.  One of the things worth noting is the food.  Costa Rica is a bit unusual in this regard.

First of all, Costa Rica is lush, which means all kinds of food grows there naturally.  Bananas and plantains are growing in many varieties all over Costa Rica and they export a lot.  There is no lack of these fruit.  Pineapples grow readily here, and I mentioned being lost in a huge pineapple plantation.  We saw truckloads of these fruit.

Papayas grown abundantly as do coconuts.  I ate both green coconuts (pipas) and mature ones.  Coffee grows here and is exported and cocoa, likewise.  Oranges and lemons prosper there. Several fruit grow here that I have eaten nowhere else, along with yucca root.

All this says that there is no need to really go hungry in this land.  On the other hand, the home wherein we stayed for 5 days had NO refrigeration.  Like much of Costa Rica, the tradition is to eat rice and beans most every meal.

It is common to start the morning with a hearty serving of the left over rice and beans from yesterday mixed together and served as gallo pinto- or painted rooster  because it is white and black blended kinda like some roosters.  Breakfast comes often with a very sweet coffee, which, despite being too sweet, I very much enjoy.  Sometimes a few bananas are fried and included with breakfast.

Lunch is rice and beans, and on a rare occasion, some fish or chicken.  Mostly it's rice and beans and fried plantains or bananas. Sometimes a fruit juice ade is provided, and typically delicious.

Supper is the same as lunch.

In some ways this is reminiscent f our time in Botswana, where the meals at University of Botswana were remarkably similar day after day.

Surprising to me was that I rather liked the rice and beans of CR.  Maybe it's because it was just 10 days of rice and beans, whereas Botswana was 10.5 months.  I am not sure, but I didn't mind the sameness of the meals, and only lost one pound in 10 days with almost NO sweets.

We did have delicious fresh-baked empanadas which were extremely tasty.

And, all this is eaten with one utensil- a spoon! 

Rice beans and spoons, some fresh fruit- what more could you want?

Nada!

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