Culture of Costa Rica

[1] European migrants in Costa Rica to get across the isthmus of Central America as well to reach the USA West Coast (California) in the late 19th century and until the 1910s (before the Panama Canal opened).

Other European ethnic groups known to live in Costa Rica include Russians, Danes, Belgians, Portuguese, Croats, Poles, Turks, Armenians and Georgians.

Many of the first Spanish colonists in Costa Rica may have been Jewish converts to Christianity who were expelled from Spain in 1492 and fled to colonial backwaters to avoid the Inquisition.

From the 1930s to the early 1950s, journalistic and official anti-Semitic campaigns fueled harassment of Jews; however, by the 1950s and 1960s, the immigrants won greater acceptance.

[3] Costa Rica has four small minority groups: Mulatto, Black, Amerindian and Asian people.

Moreover, Costa Rica accepted many refugees from various other Latin American countries fleeing civil wars and dictatorships during the 1970s and 1980s – notably from El Salvador, Chile, Argentina, Cuba and recently from Venezuela.

[19] At the beginning of the 19th century, some wealthy Costa Ricans paid visiting foreign painters, usually European, to paint their portraits.

[20] It was not until some of these painters, such as Bigot, Henry Etheridge, or Santiago Paramo settled in the country that Costa Rican artists learned modern techniques for drawing, oil painting, and sculpture.

[20] These teachers directly influenced Tico artists Jose Maria Figueroa, Faustino Montes de Oca, and Felipe Valentini.

A short list of these artists would include Ezequiel Jimenez, Wenceslao de la Guardia, and Enrique Echandi.

Current renowned Costa Rican painters include Gonzalo Morales Sáurez, Rafa Fernandez, and Fernando Carballo, and sculptors such as Ibo Bonilla, Max Jimenez, Jorge Jimenez Deredia, Domingo Ramos, Mario Parra, Olger Villegas, Nestor Zeledon, and William Villanueva Bermudez.

[22] Other well known authors include Jose Leon Sanchez, Aquileo J. Echeverría (Concherías), Manuel González Zeledón (La propia), Joaquin Gutierrez (Cocori, Puerto Limón, Manglar), Carlos Luis Fallas (Marcos Ramírez, Mamita Yunai), Carlos Salazar Herrera (Cuentos de angustias y paisajes), Isaac Felipe Azofeifa, Fabián Dobles, Jorge Debravo, Alberto Cañas Escalante, Andrés Meza Murillo, Yolanda Oreamuno and Eunice Odio.

It is a combination of black beans and white rice, spiced with cilantro, onions, garlic, salt, and a local condiment called Salsa Lizano.

[citation needed] It is a broth of corn prepared by boiling water, meat, and whole to large-sized vegetable pieces with spices.

A casado is a one-plate meal that includes black beans, rice, meat, fried plantains, and one or more side dishes.