Food, food, food! It's a universal thing. However, it varies with each culture. Today I learned a lot about food in class because we were talking about diets for the different ages. Then my professor got a little off topic and started asking us what is different about the food here compared to the U.S. and it was very interesting hearing about other students experiences with food in their homes and my professors experience, too. They vary within each family. But generally the Costa Rican meal almost always consists of Rice and beans. My professor told us that they don't even have to decide that, but instead they automatically ask themselves what they're going to have WITH the rice and beans. So I thought that was interesting considering I haven't actually had that much rice and beans in my home here. However, the other students in my class said that that was true and that they're getting sick of it :) In my home it's different because my tica Mom is actually from the United States and my tico Dad is Costa Rican. So all the meals she cooks for us are a "mix" of American dishes and Costa Rican dishes. They are all very good! I'm not complaining at all! My professor is in the same position, she told us that her meals are a mix of Costa Rican dishes and British dishes because her husband is from Britain. Anyway, getting a little off topic there... we also discussed the differences of the type of food they use--what meals consist of besides beans and rice. In Costa Rica they DO NOT use canned food (or very rarely they do) everything is fresh. Also, they don't drink or eat a lot of Dairy. Like I said earlier, I have yet to have a glass of milk here. They only time I've had milk is in my cereal. However, they do use cheese...so that's the dairy they get. In addition, they don't eat a lot of red meat, but instead it's usually chicken and sometimes seafood. They eat A TON of fruit! There is always a plate of fruit on the table. AND THE FRUIT IS ALWAYS DELICIOUS!!! Ohhh sooo good. I will miss it a lot when I'm back in the states because it is so fresh here. They also have a lot of fruit I have not had before like papaya, passion fruit, starfruit, cas, guanabana, anona, guaba, granadillo, maracuya (my family serves maracuya juice often). And the list goes on. Then they have juice at every meal too (usually) and it is always freshly squeezed juice! If you know me well, I LOVE juice so I'm in heaven here :) My professor was also telling us of all the things that they don't get to eat often, like berries--especially blueberries which she loves, and some vegetables. She said they have vegetables but some are expensive, like squash, because they have to import them. So they don't eat those types very often. Lettuce, tomatoes and onions are the vegetables that they eat a lot of. Oh! Also, weird fact that I found interesting--Costa Ricans eat a lot of spaghetti. I guess it's not unusual to have a dish of spaghetti with rice and beans. Which sounds like a weird mix to most Americans, right? Well, it's actually pretty good. Just different. I've had to try a lot of new things here and have had to eat a lot of things that I didn't eat in the U.S. beforehand...but because I wanted to be polite I ate it here. Like mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes. All things I was not a big fan of before. And Mom, you'll be happy to hear that I'm getting used to tomatoes now. Also, onions are okay and mushrooms are too, as long as they're cooked. Still not a big fan of mushrooms I guess, but I've been eating them. It's been an adventure with food! But I was expecting that when I came here. I'm happy I get to try all these foods. Especially all the fruit! Cause we don't have a lot of it in the U.S. :)
Well, I have my first Spanish test tomorrow! So I gotta get to bed!
Buenos Noches!
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