Vegan And Vegetarian Food In Costa Rica: Everything You Need To Know

Hello kindra!

That’s such a great comment! I’m proud to say that I don’t make flan with gelatin here. I’m not sure if everyone else avoids it, but I learned how to make flan by watching my Costa Rican mother-in-law, and she only uses eggs, milk, coconut milk, evaporated milk, sugar, shredded coconut, and condensed milk. I try to eliminate as much sugar as possible from our everyday meals, so I only make flan once or twice a year as a treat (Ricky LOVES it!). Hopefully, other bakers here follow the same straightforward, traditional flan recipe or at least a non-gelatin variety of it. 🙂

Pura vida!

Hey Nu!

As a rule, no. Lard was (over)used years ago but isn’t common anymore. Bean dishes are typically prepared from raw beans (as opposed to canned beans) and cooked with salt, garlic, pepper, and other spices for additional flavoring. Butter would be the biggest challenge facing vegans with respect to vegetable dishes; vegetables are often drenched in it. Rice, often served with beans (e.g., gallo pinto and casado) or accompanying vegetables (e.g., arroz con vegetales) is almost always prepared with oil.

Pura vida! 🙂

Hi foodforsuperheroes!

Thanks so much for your comment and your support. Baby steps it is! 🙂

My apologies for any confusion; we’ve had a few people comment on the same regarding our Vegan/Vegetarian article, so I will add a special note about it to our article for clarification purposes. The article started out being for vegans and vegetarians only, but Ricky, who is a pescatarian, thought it would be good to include options for travelers who eat fish. You’re correct, though, vegetarians don’t eat fish. To eliminate doubt and confusion moving forward, I’ll clarify all this at the top of our article. 🙂

Pura vida!

Hi Jennifer!

Quick question: when you say chilies, do you mean only spicy peppers, or sweet peppers (like bell peppers) too? Generally, Costa Rican food isn’t spicy, so you should be able to find lots of meals that don’t contain spicy peppers. (Of course, it would be best to verify with the chef/restaurant staff if any meal you plan to eat contains spicy peppers.) Sweet peppers are used often, though, so it will be harder to find meals without these if you’re allergic to them too. As a heads up, gallo pinto (the typical Costa Rican breakfast) often includes sweet peppers.

Pura vida! 🙂