Aero: Katie Heubusch – Costa Rica 2014 – Food and Dining
Aero: Katie Heubusch – Costa Rica 2014 – Food and Dining
Aero: Katie Heubusch – Costa Rica 2014 – Food and Dining
Katie Heubusch
Oh my gosh. The food. Food was a huge part of the Costa Rican experience. I am a vegetarian, and I have been for five years. I thought it might be difficult to get by, and sadly I had to break my no-fish eating, but there wasn’t much of a choice. Other than that, I was overwhelmed with how delicious everything was. I am absolutely huge on organic, locally grown food, and absolutely no use of GMO’s and with Costa Rica, you couldn’t get away from home-grown.
Breakfast and dinner were provided by my host mother most of the time. Maria Marta made my roommate and me a variety of different foods. Breakfast was my favorite part. One of my gifts to my host mother was a bottle of maple syrup, which is fairly popular in New York. She was able to use it most mornings, and she told me she loved it! For breakfast, the food was a mix up of pancakes with honey, eggs with deli-meats, slices of mild mozzarella cheese, delicious bread, and a variety of Central American fruits. Some mornings, she would give us cereal when the mornings were earlier than usual. I absolutely loved the juice from Dos Pinos, and she served me the best coffee from an interesting coffee maker. Even food that we find common in the United States was so much more fresh, healthier, and had no trace of added fake sugars or GMO’s.
Costa Rica 2014 Photo Gallery
I felt bad hearing that family dinners were so uncommon with the girls who I traveled with. I had no idea that was a fading ideal. Whenever my brothers and I are in town, family meals are a must, with absolutely no technology. Family ideals were huge among Costa Ricans, which included family meals. The more and more I got immersed into the culture I found they don’t rely on machine like we do. Lunch for me most of the time, was fish, rice, fruit, salad, and beans. I absolutely love rice and beans, it’s a large part of a vegetarian diet and it was so flavorful in Costa Rica. I found myself eating fruits all the time. I never thought I would like pineapple before Costa Rica, now I’m obsessed! Strawberries are my favorite fruit and it was such a treat to have them in Costa Rica. A common drink in Costa Rica is a fruit listed in water for example, fresa en agua. Basically, it was infused fruit in water, but it tasted so much better than that. There were no additives, just fresh fruit and water. The prices were very reasonable as well for each restaurant we went out to.
Dinner was mostly with our host families. Maria Marta was a fabulous cook. One of the best things about her family is that they are very healthy and their proportions were completely normal. I never felt over or under fed. Some nights Maria Marta would serve fish and mashed potatoes. However, we were also treated with sandwiches, asparagus, pizza, spaghetti, rice, and tortillas.
Learn More: Study abroad with Modern Languages @ FLCC: Costa Rica!
– Katie Heubusch
The LEAF Project
www.leaflanguages.org
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