The Pure Life: The best food experiences of the summer

The week before I left for Costa Rica, I had received a message from my good friend Ryan. When he realized I was going to be gone for the entire summer, he begrudgingly said to me “well… enjoy your rice and beans! It’s going to be a long summer!”

Lychees! Yumm!

Despite being an exporter of many amazing fruits, and not to mention coffee, Costa Rica does have a bad reputation for poor quality food and variety. I have to admit, that I have grown to hate both rice and beans, however, I have decided to dedicate this blog to writing only about the good food experiences I have had. I am taking the theme of “best meal of the summer” and twisting it to better suit my own theme of “best food experiences of the summer”. This, because, there has not been solely one good meal, rather… many experiences that have inspired many foodie ideas I hope to spoil my friends and family with when I get back!

Now, when I got here to Costa Rica, I spent my first five weeks in Tortuguero. As I have mentioned in the past, the area is very remote. I took a three hours bus, another two-hour bus, an hour-and-a–half boat ride, and another ten-minute boat taxi. Needless to say, the food brought in to this area is limited, sometimes half rotten, and damn well expensive. Lucky for me, I was staying at a research station that had an amazing cook from Nicaragua.

She always donned a huge smile, and I think she especially like me because I was always peering over her shoulder asking “que eso?” (what is that?) and telling her “mmm, sabrosa” (mmm, delicious!). She exposed me to butter fried yucca, caramelized plantains, and salted chocolate flan. She always made salads with shredded cucumber and pickled hearts of palm. Every morning there was always fresh guanabana or cass juice, and jars were always stocked with chocolate covered cookies called “chickies”. I especially liked staying at the Sea Turtle Conservatories (the name of the station, also known as STC) because every morning there was gallo pinto. Again, this is rice and beans, but served with scrambled eggs, plantains, and tiny pancakes (which they call panqueques!) that are covered in honey. When you are working hard from five in the morning, this meal is a godsend!

Market in Turrialba

Later, when I went to work in the highlands, my co-worker and I were super excited, because we were going to be able, for the first time in over a month and a half, to cook for ourselves. I was thrilled because there was a wood fired stove/oven, and a gas burner. I had recently visited the WoodLot in Toronto, and was super excited to get the chance to make a pie in a wood fired stove, just like at that restaurant. What I didn’t realize was that it can be difficult to get wheat flour in the stores here, and I wasn’t about to experiment with corn flour pastry. I did however decide that I would make corn flour crusted fried chicken instead, and cook it in the wood fired stove. It was challenging but rewarding. As many of you know, I do enjoy a good challenge when it comes to cooking. I have been known to go overboard while camping, making ridiculous things many may not even attempt at home!

All work an no play make Todd go crazy!

This brings me to visiting my fellow YIIP interns at their research station, the even more remote station Caño Palma (COTERC). Just to give you a little understanding of how remote this place is, it is even further into the middle of nowhere than the STC where I had been staying. It was another 30-minute boat ride to get to their station, of which little public transit goes, and a boat taxi will cost well over $20 (US). Needless to say, the interns there rarely left, if only to go across the canal to the small town (a bar and a hotel) called Vista Del Mar. Most people that spend a decent amount of time here go a little stir crazy (I am sure you could ask any previous interns, and they will agree to that!).

Visiting this station is fun because the people are sooo happy to see a new face. It is rare not to be greeted with a big smile and a hug. It is no wonder I liked coming here, it isn’t very often when you a travel around a lot that people: a) know your name and b) are happy to see you! I especially liked hanging out here because everyone was so deprived; they were ecstatic if I got the chance to cook something for them. Luckily, I was finally able to bake that pie I wanted to make, but rather than a wood fired stove as I anticipated, it was in the tiniest toaster oven I have ever “cooked” with! It was a banana cream pie with roasted pineapple, and we cut mini portions for all eleven of the people there! This crew was definitely the best recipients of my food I’ve ever had. I chalk this up to eating only rice (umm, really badly cooked rice), and beans (even more disgusting) for an entire three months!

Okay, so back to amazing food that I ate, that I didn’t have the pleasure of making myself! One of the most delicious things I had tasted in the entire summer was passion fruit juice my friend’s mother made for dinner. It sounds simple, but it was the most delicious thing that had ever touched my lips. In Costa Rica, there are a lot of synthetic fruit juices that are repulsive. However, I have learned that most people (maybe more the older generation moms) make fresh juices with whole fruits. They do this by peeling fruit and putting it in the blender with water and maybe a bit of sugar. If there are seeds or pith, you strain it after. It is really simple, but I have never thought to do this at home. Since I saw this, I have been making fresh juice everyday, and plan to make it a habit at home.

I also have really started to like the bar food here in Costa Rica. The food is referred to as bocadillos (which is a word for sandwich, but means more a food you can hold). It is comparable to the concept of Tapas, which literally means something to top. In the past, in bars in Spain, people would put a piece of bread over their beer to keep the flies out. They ate it, and it became known as Tapas. Now these are foods that are eaten in small portions in bars, or more recently, in restaurants too. Bocadillos are similar. They are small portions of food that you are served while you drink beer. The most common is called Chifrijo, which is (again) rice and beans, but stewed in a tomato based sauce, also served with fried salted pork fat, guacamole and tortilla chips.

My favourite Bocadillo is nachos, which is completely different than we eat in North America. On a platter is a bed of fresh tortilla chips covered with slow braised chicken or beef (pollo or carne), it is topped with refried beans, and covered in fresh cream (like sour cream) and fresh cheese. The chicken is cooked in a sweet spicy sauce, similar to pulled pork. The whole thing is heated under a broiler and it comes to you gooey and delicious. The tortillas aren’t stacked high, but rather, a single layer, so each chip has a mound of meat, beans and cheese. It is freakin amazing, and I think about it every night as I drift to sleep. .. mmmm nachos.

So, in reflection, I have eaten my fair share of rice and beans as Ryan had predicted, but I have also bean exposed to a huge variety of fresh fruits and vegetables I haven’t encountered before. I have also learned that because it is “growing season” here is year round, people base their planting rotations on the cycle of the moon. In fact, most things are based on the cycle of the moon, but we really aren’t exposed to this concept in Canada… mating rituals of animals, nesting of reptiles, migration patterns, and…our food!

Anyway, stay tuned my friends, and if I invite you to a movie night soon, you’d better come because its go time with these nachos baby!

Coming soon:

The last blog post of the summer (OOOHHH NO!)...

“What I value most”

Some other pictures to share: