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Pura Vida Cooking Class in La Fortuna: Learn to Prepare Traditional Costa Rican Cuisine
5.0
42 Ratings
La Fortuna
Immerse yourself in the flavors of Costa Rica with our Pura Vida Cooking Class in La Fortuna. Learn to prepare traditional Costa Rican cuisine and take home new recipes to share with your loved ones.
Immerse yourself in the flavors of Costa Rica with our Pura Vida Cooking Class in La Fortuna. Learn to prepare traditional Costa Rican cuisine and take home new recipes to share with your loved ones.
Duration:
4 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- La Finquita from Farm to Table - After picking you up at your hotel, we will take a short drive to “La Finquita”, named for the small self-sufficient farms that are predominant throughout the region. A walk through the farm will show you how our food goes from the field to the table. Together we will gather in-season crops that will allow us to…
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La Finquita from Farm to Table - After picking you up at your hotel, we will take a short drive to “La Finquita”, named for the small self-sufficient farms that are predominant throughout the region. A walk through the farm will show you how our food goes from the field to the table. Together we will gather in-season crops that will allow us to create an open book of recipes, awakening your imagination and creativity.
Morning tours may include preparing a delicious “Gallo Pinto”, our traditional breakfast, which is a combination of rice, beans, special sauces, garlic, onions, and diced sweet peppers. In addition, you can try to make handmade corn tortillas, and turnovers filled with plantains, cheese, beans, or beef.
If you join us for a lunchtime tour, we can prepare Annatto Chicken, which is an easy dish that your family will love. Later in the afternoon, we may prepare a hash of diced fresh vegetables and other “secret” ingredients to accompany our coffee, or perhaps some “Patacones” (deep-fried green plantains) o yucca chips with refried beans or pico de gallo. Once we decide on the recipe of choice, we will get right to work.
Of course, we can’t end without also preparing a special dessert! Bon Appetit!
What's Included
- Fresh ingredients to pick up
- Apron
- Fresh ingredients to pick up
- Apron
What's Not Included
- Available for sale
- Available for sale
Meal Options
- Yuca Chips
- Gallo Pinto - our traditional breakfast, which is a combination of rice, beans, special sauces, garlic, onions, and diced sweet peppers.
- Patacones
- Annatto Chicken
- Yuca Chips
- Gallo Pinto - our traditional breakfast, which is a combination of rice, beans, special sauces, garlic, onions, and diced sweet peppers.
- Patacones
- Annatto Chicken
Additional Information
As a conscientious traveller, you should endeavor to ‘Master the art of local culinary preparation.’ Visiting a new nation requires a deep dive into their dietary culture and common dishes, as what we consume greatly impacts who we are. The key to understanding Costa Ricans is by engaging in traditional cooking lessons. Join us in exploring the culinary…
As a conscientious traveller, you should endeavor to ‘Master the art of local culinary preparation.’ Visiting a new nation requires a deep dive into their dietary culture and common dishes, as what we consume greatly impacts who we are. The key to understanding Costa Ricans is by engaging in traditional cooking lessons. Join us in exploring the culinary wonders of Costa Rica. Enjoy an enlightening tour that provides you with exotic recipes to take back and recreate for your loved ones.
- Minimum drinking age is 18 years
- A minimum of 2 people per booking is required
- If you have any dietary restrictions, please let us know when booking
Location
Jacamar Naturalist Tours
Main Office is located upstairs of Lava Rocks Restaurant, beside La Fortuna Church.
La Fortuna, San Carlos, Alajuela.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
5.0
(42 Ratings)
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Injoy2911
Nov 8, 2024
Delicioso! - Our tour started with included transportation from our hotel. We then got to do a small tour of the farm, which included harvesting yucca, oregano, peppers, and culantro. During the tour/harvest, we saw toucans and heard howler monkeys. We then moved into a beautiful open air kitchen. The food was delicious, and the chef and guides were so nice! David, Alicia, Oscar, and several other staff were outstanding! We highly recommend this experience!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Scarlettoxx
Oct 4, 2024
What A Fabulous Experience! - My girlfriends and I were in Costa Rica last week and we took the Pura Vida cooking class. It was wonderful! Our tour guide was Hellen (with 2 L's) and she was sensational! Hellen not only took us on the tour, but she explained what was growing, how they grow it, how it's harvested, and she also had a wealth of knowledge about the history of the area, how the farm started, and on and on and on! We picked some of the food we were going to cook. One of us even used the machete to cut the casava! Hellen was an absolute delight and we enjoyed every minute with her.
Now for the cooking class… we were there for the lunch class Our two cooks were Angela and Anna. We called them our "chica chefs" and we all laughed at that! We washed, cut, and chopped the vegetables. Angela taught us how to make corn tortillas. We learned when you're cutting onions to quarter the onion first and put it in water for a minute or so. This soaks away what causes your eyes to water and low and behold… It works! We learned in Spanish lemons are called. Limes and limes are called lemons. We learned that the lemons in Costa Rica were far juicier than anything we get here in the States. We learn to marinate chicken in lemon juice, onion, and salt before cooking and we learned that the cilantro that grows in Costa Rica is much milder than that in the United States!
If you're going to Costa Rica and you're in this area, I would highly, highly recommend this cooking class! It is an experience in itself! And I would also recommend requesting Hellen for your tour guide. You will not be sorry! Pura Vida!!!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
40adibh
Aug 25, 2024
Amazing Experience! - Christopher & Christine were amazing!! They were very hospitable and knowledgeable about everything food in Costa Rica and more. Wife and I Had such a fun time during this session!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Chrisdz6009vz
Aug 21, 2024
Highlight of our trip - We agree with all the prior great reviews. We took the 9am class and were picked up promptly by Hugo, who spoke fluent English and stayed with us the whole time. We were the only people booked, so the farm invited four of their friends to cook with us, which made it feel very inviting.
We made yucca and plantain chips with a dipping sauce, annatto chicken and pico de gallo, which we ate off banana leaves. We also made and cooked tortillas from scratch. We got a lot of information about the cooking techniques, how you could modify them, and how to adapt the recipe to what ingredients might be available.
We very much enjoyed this class.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jessica_c
Jun 20, 2024
Pura Vida Cooking Indeed - We loved the Pura Vida cooking class! We picked our own spices and yuccas fresh for our meal before beginning to cook! We made chicken annato, fried plantain chips, patacones, and more. We had an amazing time and learned so much about the food and wildlife in Costa Rica! One of the most delicious meals we ate in Costa Rica and one of our favorite activities on our honeymoon!
Review provided by Viator
Stanguay5252
Jun 10, 2024
Cooking the Pura Vida Way - Loved this class! Probably my favorite excursion on our 9 day Costa Rican trip.
Our fabulous guide led us through a field outside the outdoor cooking area where we picked and dug the foods we would use in our meal. We picked oregano, cilantro, and peppers. We were a group of 9 and we all worked together to prepare a typical Costa Rican meal beginning with fried plantains and pico de Gallo. We made our own tortillas along with a chicken dish. The food was delicious. There was such a feeling of comradery amongst the group though we had just met . Local cooks led the session. This is such a worthwhile activity!
Pura Vida!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ariel
May 31, 2024
Such amazing people to learn to cook from❤️. - My boyfriend and I absolutely loved this cooking class. We are big foodies and we wanted to learn how to cook typical Costa Rican dishes. Diego A. was such a great person to pick us up from our hotel and help us to cook and translate for us. Anna, our cooking instructor, speaks Spanish but she was such a sweet lady to learn from so language barriers don’t matter. Diego A helped us to pick fresh veggies from the garden and educated us on how they are grown & how to extract them from the ground. Anna helped us with the cooking techniques and what spices/seasonings to use. At the end, the food came out sooo delicious, better than most Latin foods than I have ever eaten. Diego A also pointed out exotic birds like Toucan which my boyfriend and I have been dying to see since arriving to Costa Rica. Thank you to Diego A. and Anna for making this experience such an incredible and unforgettable one.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jennifer_g
Apr 21, 2024
Lovely Time Learning To Cook Local Cuisine! - This cooking class was a great way to learn more about the local cuisine, try fresh and delicious food, and bond with other travellers. The hosts were so kind and knowledgable. They took us around the farm to help gather fresh ingredients, and we were able to participate in preparing each part of the meal. It was very rewarding to sit with the group at the end of the class, eat together and share travel experiences. Would definitely do this again!
Review provided by Viator
G1320dejohng
Apr 17, 2024
Highly recommend - Incredible experience! We got the ingredients from the farm, and cooked them to make a delicious meal. Our guides were incredibly kind and patient and the food turned out amazing!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Rorosui
Apr 13, 2024
just perfect - Great Pura Vida Cooking Class with Christopher and Anne-Christiana. So much fun and good memories.
Just live it … just perfect!
Best Costa Rica experience so far, thanks 🙏 a lot
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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