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This was mentioned in another thread but I wanted to start another so that folks (“I”) can refer to it easily later once I’m in CR. We do a pretty good job sticking to an organic, at the very least “natural”, diet. This is almost too easy here in my town, but what about in CR? There was mention of an organic Feria or that parts of some Ferias are focused on local organic producers. Can anyone tell me how difficult it is to find this? What about healthfood stores? Healthfood restaurants? Does anyone know of any areas where sustainable farming is being practiced?
At my local feria in San Ramon, there are several stands that sell organic veggies. There are also several macrobiotics (health food stores) in San Ramon, but they are not as extensive as the health food stores we have in the States. But I do buy some food products there such as organic flaxseed and sea salt that does not have added fluoride or artificial iodine. I make my own bread and almost everything else from scratch, so I hardly go into a supermarket. My real goal about living in CR is to grow my own food, all organically. At the moment I have 13 kinds of citrus trees, 3 banana trees, plantains, figs, avocados and guavas, oh yeah, and 40 coffee trees. Most of what I eat can be purchased at the ferias, including organic chicken, goat cheese, and wild caught fish.
I have to tell you that I love your blog name! Anyway, there are different places you can get the produce & other items depending on where you will be living. The “organic feria” (farmer’s market) has been moved around a bit (San Pedro, Desamparados..), but there are orgs that keep track of where they may be found (see link). If you contact UNED, UCR or UNA (call the extension depts. of these universities), I worked with the farmers thru IICA (in Coronado, SJ)and ask for the Costa Rican offices, but I think the easiest thing is to try this link:
http://www.agriculturaorganica.org/ferias.htm
They had managed to place some of their products in the supermarkets–I really don’t know how that’s going now, but you can always find someone that will tell you how to find these products. Costa Ricans are very generous with that kind of info. Once you make contact, ask them if they are fully organic or not. Certification is a long process and some are just starting so that you can make informed decisions. They will not be using chemicals but the land may still have a ways to go before it can be considered & certified organic. Pura Vida!
Thank you, maravilla. And San Ramon is NW of San Jose, right? About how long is the trip? I’ll be somewhere near San Jose… I’m just not sure where yet.
By the way, I know how to make nothing, although I’ve been known to boil a pot or two of water 🙂 I am really dependent upon others in this way (restaurants, groceries, etc). Can I share your fruit with you? lol
Thank you for that, rebagaron.
On a side note, when I opened your link, I had to laugh at myself. I have been telling myself for weeks, “learn Spanish, learn Spanish, learn Spanish”. You folks on this forum are a wealth of information… I just can’t read a lot of it! lol. Thank God for Google’s “translate” feature!
“learn Spanish, learn Spanish, learn Spanish”
oh, as far as restaurants go–there are plenty in the Central Valley area that cater to organic, vegan, vegetarian. The menu choices are much healthier there in general. La Mazorca closed but there is Shakti in San Jose among many others (forgive me but I’m terrible with names–your new Tico/a neighbors will help you with this), but most small town restaurants will serve fairly healthy food as long as they don’t use “manteca de cerdo” (lard) or some other saturated product. You can’t deny that lard makes very tasty food, but also very unhealthy—unfortunately. By the way, once you contact the organic farmers, they will also be a wealth of info as to places to eat delicious and healthy meals. Hope this helps and yes, you will feel much better once you learn at least a bit of Spanish–especially to get around town (directions being given differently than you might be used to). Best of luck in your new adventures in CR 🙂
Lard is better for you than all the omega 6 oils they typically use in restaurants.
You can peruse this article to see all the lies we’ve been told about saturated fats.
http://www.drcranton.com/nutrition/oiling.htmAlso there is an organic website — http://www.naturastyle.com that has almost everything you would ever want to eat. They even deliver in the San Jose area. I’m trying to get a group of people together from San Ramon so we could put in a big order and see if they would deliver to us.
Besides learning Spanish, learn to cook. It could save your life. Plus when you see the plethora of the most gorgeous fruits and vegetables in the world, you will be inspired.
Maravilla, I would hope you’re not suggesting we all eat lard because there is too much known to go down that road, but yes, too much of ANYTHING can have hazardous effects on your health and a little lard will not kill anyone. Remember that Omega-6 fatty acids are considered essential fatty acids (EFAs), which basically means that they’re essential to human health and cannot be made in our own bodies, they need to be ingested. Just check out the research on women that avoid fat at all costs and even though they exercise rigorously, their bones show signs of aging much greater than they should. Also, not all Omega-6 oils are made equal, but things weren’t going too badly when we had a varied diet and ate plenty of vegetables & fruits. However, when meats & frying became the emblems of our prosperity & we overly consumed them, we ended up where we are today with cancers, cardiovascular disease and the like. I love the fact that you try to grow your own food. My grandparents were farmers and I carry that in my blood. I hope to follow in your footsteps one day….Pura Vida, Rebeca
There is plenty of research that implicates Omega 6 fatty acids in the formation of inflammation in the body, thus leading to heart disease, cancer, and clogged arteries. If you read the article “Oiling of America” (link provided in my post above) you will see that it was money that promoted the use of all kinds of unnatural oils such as canola oil, soybean oil, corn oil, and other vegetable oils — none of which are good for you. Look how they demonized coconut oil, which is a saturated fat and a source of medium chain fatty acids. The health benefits of coconut oil are many, and it was used in all bakery products until the soybean or corn oil industry demanded that it be removed. Your brain and your body cannot function without saturated fats. When the majority of the population ate lard and butter there was less heart disease, and contrary to the latest propaganda, most people who suffer heart attacks actually have low cholesterol. It will take two to three years to displace all the omega 6s in your body once you eliminate them from your diet. I’ve been researching diets that prevent breast cancer, and one of the things every single breast cancer expert says is that Omega 6 oils promote a host of diseases, including breast cancer. My grandparents, too, grew their own food, and ate lots of lard and butter, and never went to a doctor, never were sick, never took a medication, and they lived into their late 80s when then died peacefully. My mother also grew a lot of the food we ate growing up, so it’s in my blood to have an awareness about where my food comes from and how it was grown. The prolific consumption of margarina in Costa Rica is troubling, to say the least. I was in a mas x menos one day looking for unsalted butter, and the woman next to me told me in spanish that butter was bad for your heart, and here, take this coupon for a discount on some garbage that Dos Pinos makes. I tried to explain to her as best I could that margarina was an awful thing to eat, that it scars the arteries, leading to plaque build-up, and that she would be healthier if she ate butter instead. Her eyes glazed over because obviously there has been a big campaign in third world countries promoting margarine as good, natural fats as bad.
My grandmother (92) grew up on a farm in Cuba, they would render lard then store the pork chunks for months. Her older brothers (3 of 4 still living) worked tabacco till a couple years ago. They’re doing something right… I wonder sometimes why’ we’re so quick to jump on the latest research. If we follow the money we may find the source of the funding and producers are the same… ADM (Arthur Daniel Midland) “Supermarket to the World” …
“Lard the other white meat” maybe?
OK, lard may or may not kill you, however, I would put big money on a bet that the vast majority of people would forgo lard as well as most other mammal meats if they saw the process from live animal to their plate.
Not saying that everybody should be vegetarian.
I’m just saying that there is more to concider then if it is good or bad for US.
BTW, for those of us here in Southern Florida, or anywhere else they have that wonderful Cuban bread that crisps up so nice in the sandwhich press…the bread is full of lard. I just like to put that out there, especially when I see a vegetarian order a veggie burger and veggies on Cuban bread, it’s really good, but it is full of PIG FAT.I appreciate the answers to my question and also where this thread has headed.
my $0.02… I’m a southern girl and down here we have a saying that goes something like this, “everything’s better with a little pork fat.”
Did I mention that I know not how to cook?
Hey UpeCity, I’ve missed hearing from you… I’m not on a bandwagon about lard, my reasoning goes to the point that our grandparents did not have to live in this age of toxicity & artificial chemicals. All animals store much of these toxicities/impurities (and sometimes parasites) in their fat deposits and heat doesn’t really help in most cases. It’s this that makes lard a real problem for me. I have not said anything about coconut oil and I use it. As far as Omega-6 and inflammation, yes, it has been proven to cause that and Omega-3s have been proven to lower the factors that cause inflammation in the body, but if you over do it with the Omega-3, you will lower those factors beyond the balancing threshold they should be at and then you’re going to be ill. You may just slight weaken your immune system (inflammation is a natural immune system response) or you may have a nosebleed or if you’re really unlucky, you might have a stroke and die (as per many different sources including the Mayo Clinic). There is definitely a balance factor that needs to be addressed and previous generations practiced this. They didn’t have the obesity indices that we currently “enjoy.” Our bodies have evolved to eat real food and will have difficulties with anything that we haven’t spent a few million years adapting to. I prefer natural/herbal medicine to chemically prepared ones, but remember that arsenic is a very natural substance and it can also kill you. For the most part of what we eat, we should do so because we feel it will be positive for our bodies and our souls (that’s really very subjective). As for me, I now love chocolate cake even more than I did just a few weeks ago, but I will not stuff myself with it everyday. In the end, how we feel about the food we eat has much more of an impact on us than as just a placebo effect. So if you feel like larding it up, then go right ahead–as for me, I prefer to avoid it, although I do love those Cuban Midnight Sandwiches and I will actually enjoy one once in a blue moon (midnight is the name not the time I eat them at :-)…Long live chocolate cake! (note: one of the best chocolate cakes in CR can be found in Bread & Chocolate in Puerto Viejo de Limon)
Hello ! We are looking to obtain property in the Siquirres area–2 hrs E of SJ-2 hrs from Puerto Limon on rt32. We are organic growers in Western NC now & will continue
that in CR–Maravilla, I’d really like to dip into your knowledge — we want a dozen of every fruit & nut & veggie that will grow–also flowers–would you be open to emailing seperately from this board? (It might not be of interest to all ?). We are looking to buy next to Mighty Rivers EcoFarm. thats their website–Beautiful cows, beautiful pastures, GREAT dairy products & gentle people, too. Weston-Price Foundation based eating & food info as you are talking about. We eat all orgainic here & biodyanmic as much as possible & I do catering & want to coninue baking also. so am really hoping to find/grow all I need to continue like this–And the dishsoap! and clothes washing liquid–must have the best for the land/water–so glad I found this site–thanks
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