It consists mainly of white rice and black beans. Gallo Pinto literally translates to “spotted rooster”, perhaps because it looks like spotted rice. Ticos usually sauté pre-cooked black beans and rice with fresh onions, sweet peppers, cilantro, salt and other seasonings, depending on who is preparing it.
Costa Rica’s tropical climate and fertile soil allow it to grow a wide variety of crops. A lot of the freshly grown fruits and vegetables can be found at the local farmer’s markets. Costa Rica is especially known for its pineapples, bananas and coffee. Coffee is particularly interesting to me because it is a sometimes overlooked but is a significant part of the Tico diet. It is usually grown in the central valleys of Costa Rica, including in the province where I live. There is even a small coffee plantation in my surrounding neighborhood in San Joaquín. The coffee beans go through a thorough picking and drying process before being exported to countries all over the world.
