What not to eat in Costa Rica

Jul 31, 2009 3:23:47 AM

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Think you’ve got a strong palate, an iron gut and the will to travel your taste buds? Here is our list of Costa Rica’s top five less-than-popular culinary oddities.

Mondongo (tripe soup) Unless you grew up eating the stuff, it’s difficult for most people to dig into a hot, steamy bowl of boiled intestines. Assuming you can forget about what you’re eating, where they came from and what used to pass through them, textures like chewy, stringy and spongy don’t exactly get the mouth watering and the stomach grumbling.

Ceviche de pulpo (octopus ceviche) Sushi aficionados the world over may disagree with us, but it takes a bit of mental preparation to put a piece of raw octopus in your mouth. Although the citric acid in the lime juice arguably cooks the octopus, it’s still rubbery and hard to chew, and it’s difficult to describe the feeling of the suckers sliding down your throat.

Vino de palma (palm wine) The preferred firewater of rural campesinos (farmers) throughout Costa Rica, palm wine is the fermented sap of the palma de corozo tree. After burning your innards, inducing temporary blindness and killing a few million brain cells, you will be treated to one of the worst hangovers of your life.

Chicharrones (fried pig skin) Although hot, salty and oily are usually good adjectives for describing a snack food, it’s hard to eat pig skin if you’ve ever seen one rolling around in its own filth. Of course, ‘pork rinds’ are a popular snack food in the US, though the real thing is less like a pork-flavored potato chip and more like a greasy slab of pork-flavored fat.

Huevos de tortugas (turtle eggs) Although they’re rumored to increase virility, prolong erections and make you a champ in the sack, eating the eggs of endangered sea turtles is just plain wrong. Although they do occasionally appear on the menu, the taste is an earthy mix of species extinction and environmental insensitivity.

Of course, it’s not all bad news…there’s plenty to tempt the palate in Costa Rica - exotic tropical fruits, locally raised fish, and churros washed down with shade-grown coffee are just the start.

For the low-down on all things culinary in Costa Rica (the good and the bad), take a look at the Lonely Planet Costa Rica - History, Culture & Adventure Travel Pick & Mix chapter.

Think it looks pretty grim? According to the Thorn Tree community, Costa Rica doesn’t even rate in the worst-country- for-food stakes. Find out which countries rate.

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Comments

10 August 2009 1:06PM truna Report this comment
Mondongo? Ceviche de pulpo? Really? Way to pick a couple of the more tasty and common meals in the Spanish speaking world (from Spain as well as South/Central America and the Caribbean).
I think the meals listed above are far from "grim". Just my .02
19 August 2009 12:35AM cegory Report this comment
Where you guys get your information? I´m from Costa Rica and there is some mistakes in this article 1) Mondongo is not a intestine (tripe) soup.. is just the stomach of the cow not all the intestines and all the digestive system. 2) Ceviche de pulpo is hard to find in this country and maybe just in a few restaurants you can find it, this because typical Costa Rican´s don´t like it, this ceviche is originary from Peru. 3)Chicharrones is fried pork meat, not skin, skin is name Concha and is totally different
Next time ask to the locals about information
20 August 2009 3:42AM yasminrlee1 Report this comment
This is a narrow minded and pointless article, written by an ignorant and fussy person. I thought lonely planet was supposed to encourage the appreciation of other cultures, don´t you guys have anything better to write about instead of ridiculing the local Costa Rican fare?
20 August 2009 7:04AM verde Report this comment
-Mondongo (or tripe in Mexico) is stomach, not intestines. You can find it all over Latin America. -Ceviche de pulpo is so rare here, I have only seen it in maybe three restaurants (and I have traveled almost everywhere in this country). -Chicharrones are not skins, they are huge chunks of pork that occasionally have some fat on them and are sold in restaurants and served with lime and tortillas. Pork skins are called conchas and are sold in a bag, like they are in the US. Two very different things. -Vino de palma (coyol is the correct term). Nobody in Costa Rica knows it by this name....we call it chirrite or vino de coyol. And chirrite isn't as popular as our signature liquor: GUARO! -Lastly, churros. They are like a fair food here and not even a typical food. Try a pan casero or a tamal de elote with your coffee next time.
In general, its not necessary to avoid these things, because the majority of tourists that come here won't see half of this stuff on a menu.
12 February 2010 5:46AM abbycr Report this comment
I'm fairly new to Costa Rica (since August), so I'm not really qualified to talk about some of this... But we do have plenty of octopus here, in my tiny beach town. (Maybe it's mostly for the gringos? But then if the gringos aren't wary of it, why is it on this list?) I've never heard anyone call it weird... Over all, the food here isn't that adventurous, but it sure is fresh and tasty! Some of my neighbors can't afford things like olive oil, so you can imagine the emphasis put on fresh -- the food here is amazing! I do commend any warnings against what it is considered endangered.
2 March 2010 5:44PM knabs Report this comment
WTF is this list? Tons of people around the world eat tripe and octopus. Chicharrones are popular all over Latin America. If you don't want to experience the culinary sensations a country has to offer, then fine. Don't go around telling other people to not experience them as well. How Lonely Planet could have possibly thought it was a good idea to publish this article, I'll never know. So disappointing!
9 July 2010 10:50AM yahhn Report this comment
This article is extremely disappointing. I have eaten all of the food on the list except for the vino de palma, and even though some of it (octopus) wasn't the greatest meal I ever had, at least I had enough respect for another culture to try it. This article just seems to be written by an uneducated tourist reading the description in a menu and not actually trying the food.
18 January 2011 4:24PM sargonaut Report this comment
Chicharrones are a latin-american delicacy from Mexico all the way down to Argentina.
Obviously an article written by an ignorant gringo who thinks McDonald's is haute cuisine!
13 March 2011 12:03PM maxotrap Report this comment
I would agree that some cuisines have weird recipes, such as alive monkey brain in China or alive baby octopuses in Korea. But mondongo or chicharrones??? They're actually tasty and not so weird. Besides, what's wrong about eating every part of an animal? I think it just shows respect for the life that was given. If you're really so desperate for authors, send me an email, I could do a much better job than this.