Food, Friends and Flavor

Wow! I just had my first female friend visit me and what a different experience food wise it was. She brought pretzels, American chocolate, and we ate or cooked American food. I actually went a few days without Costa Rican food and was much happier. Now that I am back with my host mom I have realized that is not Costa Rican food that makes me miss what my taste buds are used too. It is the fact that some Costa Ricans just don’t spice, or know what flavor is. To test my theory I ate my host mom’s food, another older Costa Rican woman’s food then went to my friends “soda” which is a small restaurant. The food at the soda is amazing. The owner, my very good friend, sautés onions and peppers and other herbs to get flavor for the simplest of dishes. It is the same simple Costa Rican meal but in a class of its own. So as I woke up today, back in my host mothers house , and went to the kitchen, I was sad. There was no cereal and milk like I had with my friend, no flavor filled dishes, and no excitement. As I ate cold rice with luke warm beans and a tomato at 8am I thought of how nice it will be when I can add some flavor back into my life and be in control of my own diet. Now I don’t want to sound ungrateful. The older lady fed me for free for three days and the soda owner often refuses to let me pay. Then, when I insist she charges me too little. This culture is amazingly welcoming and friendly. Also, when it comes to food, the women are worse than Italians, Jews and Greeks combined. It doesn’t matter if you just ate, you are getting fed. Also, “only a little” is a foreign concept to them.