Costa Rica

Gallo pinto

Rice and black beans fried together with coriander and Lizano sauce, eaten at breakfast.

Casado

A plate of rice, beans, plantain, salad and a meat, the standard working lunch.

Olla de carne

Beef boiled with chayote, yuca, corn and plantain, served in two courses.

Chifrijo

Rice, beans, chicharrón and pico de gallo layered in a bowl with tortilla chips.

Sopa negra

Black bean soup with a poached egg and a squeeze of lemon.

Arroz con pollo

Rice coloured with achiote and mixed with chicken and vegetables, at every party.

Tamal

Maize dough with pork wrapped in plantain leaf, made in December by the hundred.

Patacones

Green plantain smashed flat and fried twice, served with black bean dip.

Chorreadas

Fresh corn pancakes eaten with sour cream, sweet or savoury.

Picadillo

Finely diced chayote, potato or green bean cooked with mince and scooped in tortillas.

Rondón

Caribbean coconut stew of fish, tubers and plantain, from Limón.

Ceviche tico

White fish cured in lime with coriander and sweet pepper, served with crackers.

Salsa Lizano

A mild brown sauce from 1920 that ends up on almost everything in the country.

Tres leches

Sponge soaked in three milks until saturated, served cold in a tray.

Cajeta

Milk and sugar cooked down into fudge, cut into squares at the roadside.

Agua dulce

Cane sugar dissolved in hot water or milk, the countryside's morning drink.

Café chorreado

Coffee poured through a cloth sock on a wooden stand, still the household method.

Guaro

Clear cane spirit drunk in shots with lime, or in a guaro sour.