Authentic flavors and diverse textures that promise to bring us close to Costa Rica’s native population through the gastronomy that the Boruca, the Maleku and other ethnic groups have created in their lifestyle; this is the concept of the new menu of Luna Roja (Red Moon) restaurant, located in the “Paseo Gastronómico La Luz” in Barrio Escalante and part of the offering of Boutique Hotel Luz de Lun...

By Wendy Anders Café con Cuerpo's waitresses, Facebook. Costa Rican models Marcela Negrini and Diana Ibarra just launched a café in downtown San José called “Café con Cuerpo,” (literally, coffee with body), reported CRHoy.com yesterday. A sort of part-Hooters, part-Hustlers Club, the company guarantees guests will be served by the sexiest waitresses in the country, according to their Fac...

PRLog -- Costa Rica Meadery, which produces artisan mead (honey wine), honey, and cheese, in Desamparados de Alajuela, won three medals - two golds and a bronze - at the 5th Annual Copa Cervezas de América, one of the most important beer-related events in Latin America. The award ceremony was held on October 1st, 2016 in Santiago, Chile. The 2016 Copa Cervezas de America competition winners wer...

Consumers of Costa Rican craft beer will be able to get a monthly six pack of different types of beers in their homes or offices. The model is a subscription box by which clients will receive exclusive products from national microbreweries they can savor. The system works through an online registration system where users pick the delivery place and can make their payment through Paypal ; t...

By Wendy Anders Andrea Rojas, Johnny Rockets Manager - Costa Rica. Johnny Rockets celebrates its third anniversary in Costa Rica and continues with its expansion plans, the company announced last week. The classic American food franchise has four restaurants in Costa Rica, all located in the province of San José. The restaurants are open every day from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. "We are...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rica’s Chamber of Restaurants (Cacore) has teamed up with Quatro, a legal and tax advising firm, to aid current and prospective restaurant owners better manage their businesses, and improve profitability and sustainability. Frequent changes in the economic environment, an oversupply of restaurants, and constant changes in legislation are the three main factors that can ...

By Wendy Anders Oxfam Germany’s recently published report detailing working and living conditions for Costa Rica’s pineapple and Ecuador's banana workers, “Sweet Fruit, Bitter Truth,” does not mince words. “This investigation reveals (too) many violations of human and labour rights in the production of bananas and pineapples,” said the report based on numerous interviews conducted with worke...

By Jack Donnelly Mexican cuisine is one of the great culinary influences in the world today, along with Chinese, Italian, and others. Tacos, burritos, nachos, refried beans (an unfortunate mistranslation we will never get back: it should be well fried beans), pico de gallo, and many other Mexican dishes are found the world over. Costa Rica is no exception and, as in other countries, Ticos have ...

By Wendy Anders For the fifth year in a row the Universidad Latina (ULatina) has awarded five youth ages 18-29 for heading up projects that have a positive social impact, stated ULatina in a press statement. The Yo Creo Premio (I Believe Award) awarded five $2,500 grants on Friday to talented young people who have shown a demonstrated and measurable impact in addressing problems facing their...

By Mariluz Parga and Sandra Andraka, International Seafood Sustainability Foundation Incidental capture of sea turtles is a well-known impact of longline and other fisheries worldwide and one of several significant causes of the decrease in sea turtle populations. While effective alternatives to reduce incidental capture are studied and put in place, identifying methods to increase an animal’s ...

Photo: Gevalia Gevalia® Kaffe unveiled a new Special Reserve line of coffee that includes four premium, 100-percent Arabica, single-origin coffees, including Costa Rica, Guatemala, Kenya and Papua New Guinea varieties. Each is sourced exclusively from its respective country and crafted for those interested in tasting the exotic flavors of the world. All four of the Gevalia Special Reserve c...

Adding a sexy, healthy spin to our familiar breakfast menu of pancakes, eggs and cereal is now easier than ever with Costa Rica's "gallo pinto." A recent study published by Nutrition Journal found that the pairing of any type of beans with rice can help stop unhealthy blood sugar spikes in adults with type 2 diabetes. With 25.8 million people in the U.S. living with this condition, Costa Rican "ga...

Wikimedia Commons "You can't get it more cheaply" calls a Caracas woman selling flour at the open-air market in Petare, the largest shantytown in Latin America, where hundreds of vendors offer basic products that are generally scarce here at prices often more than 20 times higher than those fixed by the government. Stringent price controls have prevailed in Venezuela since 2003 but, neverth...

By Wendy Anders Last year, many in Costa Rica were surprised by a governmental decision to ban imports of Mexican avocados. The government alleged the ban was due to a blight that might spread to local crops, according to reports in various local media sources, but inside sources said the allegation was unfounded. For the last two decades, Mexico has provided Costa Rica with the vast majo...

Pixabay Commons ST. LOUIS (August 12, 2016) – The U.S. soybean industry is a multi-faceted, global business, and 10 U.S. soybean farmers just got a closer look at how their soy checkoff works in that marketplace to all U.S. soybean farmers’ benefit. Sponsored by the United Soybean Board’s Audit and Evaluation (A&E) Committee, the See for Yourselfprogram connected these farmers with their c...

Photo: BusinessWire.com Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc., today announced a development agreement with Inversiones DBA-KKD de Costa Rica, SRL (“Inversiones”) to open 10 Krispy Kreme shops in Costa Rica in the next five years. “Costa Rica’s rapid market growth and consumer demand for sweet treats makes this the perfect time for Krispy Kreme to expand in the country,” said Dan Beem, Krispy Kreme ...

Gallo pinto, the most emblematic meal of Costa Rica, is one of the world's healthiest breakfasts. According to Mike Dunphy, a culinary author who writes for the online edition of the respected Time magazine, breakfast in Costa Rica deserves to be on a list that healthy morning meals from countries such as Turkey, Israel, Japan, Iceland, and others. On the top ten list of international healthy b...

Wikimedia CommonsThis afternoon, following a two week trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn, New York, returned a guilty verdict against Gregorio and Angelo Gigliotti for their operation of a transnational cocaine trafficking operation that stretched from Italy, to Queens and to Costa Rica. Gregorio Gigliotti was also convicted of possessing a stash of firearms in connection with the operation. Whe...

Helthgauge.com - Flickr CommonsCHICAGO – 20 July 2016 – Tate & Lyle, a leading global provider of food ingredients and solutions, is pleased to announce the winner of this year’s Institute of Food Technologists Student Association (IFTSA) Developing Solutions for Developing Countries (DSDC) competition, McGill University. “Tate & Lyle is honored to be the new sponsor of this program,” said Sa...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rica’s constitutional court recently upheld the regulation of the cultural content of advertisements for alcoholic beverages, according to a judicial press statement released Friday. Stating that “prohibiting the use of national symbols and folkloric music in publicity campaigns for alcoholic beverages is meant to avoid associating alcohol consumption with the culture,...

Wikimedia Commons  EFE BOQUETE, PANAMA –  A fine coffee grown and processed in the mountains of western Panama, a new product that was a hit in a recent Panamanian international auction, has a secret ingredient: the tropical aroma and taste of mango. The Gallardo family's Nuguo Signature was ranked the most innovative coffee in its debut at The Best of Panama international tasting event,...

Wikimedia Commons Grupo LALA S.A.B. de C.V., a Mexican company focused on the healthy food industry, ("LALA") (BMV: LALA B) announces that it has signed a strategic agreement with the Costa Rican company Florida Bebidas, S.A. ("Florida"), for the production, distribution and sale of LALA® products in Costa Rica. This strategic agreement will provide LALA access to a platform to strengthen i...

File photo By Wendy Anders The Costa Rican Chamber of Restaurants (Cacore, in Spanish) today filed with the Civil and Adminstrative Disputes Court for an injunction against the State Treasury Department (Hacienda). They request that the Treasury Department desist from what they consider to be illegal withholding practices on debit and credit card transactions at establishments with table an...

Wikimedia Commons A quintal (46 kilograms) of high-quality Costa Rican coffee was purchased Wednesday by a Japanese company at $5,900 in the Cup of Excellence's online auction, the event organizer reported. The price sets a new record high in this type of auction, according to the Coffee Institute of Costa Rica (Icafe). The Japanese company Wataru bought 11 bags of coffee grown in the Su...

Taza Agua COSTA RICA (PRWEB) JUNE 15, 2016 - Taza Agua, the world’s first to market bottled water company designed specifically for America’s $18 billion dollar annual coffee market, has confirmed today that it has been officially endorsed by an international multi-award winning certified coffee judge, Kattia Barrantes Zuñiga. The stamp of approval from the world recognized coffee expert is a m...

Permacube Costa Rica San Isidro, Costa Rica - PermaCube Revolution is possibly the most practical solution to address the world’s food and water needs. Jim Gale, an eco community developer in Costa Rica, and his team have created a truly revolutionary system that assists with self reliance and abundance. The Permacube Revolution is open source so you can build it yourself, just sign up on ...

Natural Sins chips NEW YORK, June 10, 2016 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Costa Rican food companies are showcasing the country's diverse selection of organic snacks, premium roasted coffee, chocolate, and specialty food products when they attend the 2016 Fancy Food Show at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in NYC on June 26-28. In addition, Essential Costa Rica is inviting the media to sample pro...

Source; Wikimedia Commons San Jose, Costa Rica (June 6, 2016) – New data from George Mason University has revealed that shark meat sold in San Jose and Heredia food markets contain high levels of toxic mercury. The levels are so high that three shark species tested exceed U.S. federal health guidelines. Advocates are advising consumers, and especially women and children, to not buy shark due t...

Bionovelus PHOENIX, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / June 9, 2016 / BioNovelus, Inc.  is pleased to announce the creation of BioNovelus-CostaRica, a legal entity that will register BioNovelus products for each country in Central America. The registration for Costa Rica should be achieved by the end of the third quarter of 2016. BioNovelus President/CEO Jean Ekobo has presented biodegradable fungicide CR-1...

2016 Rio Olympics Logo LOS ANGELES--(Business Wire)--Global nutrition company Herbalife announced today it will be the official sponsor of the Costa Rican, Israeli, Italian and Vietnam National Olympic Committees all traveling to the Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympic Games. Herbalife will also support more than 50 athletes and 19 Paralympians from over 16 countries. These Olympic athletes will...

Source: EFE Caracas, May 24 (EFE).- The Coca-Cola Company of Venezuela said in a communique that it has used up its inventories of refined sugar for industrial use, which has in turn forced the company to temporarily suspend all lines of soft drinks containing that ingredient, though they will continue to produce others. "The sugar shortage means a temporary interruption of lines of soft dr...

Source: Half Moon Bay Trading ATLANTIC BEACH, FLORIDA • HEREDIA, COSTA RICA - “QUASI-THAI”… as in “Comparatively, outwardly, relatively... Thai!” As we manufacture in tropical Costa Rica, utilizing fresh, tropical ingredients sourced within similar latitudinally lush growing environments, we played on this comparison, and that the “Sí” of “SíRacha” is obviously also “Yes” in Spanish. *And t...

Four Seasons Costa Rica Nestled between two idyllic beaches on Costa Rica's exclusive Peninsula Papagayo, Central and South America's only Forbes Five-Star resort launches phase one of its Pura Vida For All Wellness Program. The four-hour program is inspired by the pura vida way of life Costa Rica is known for. Created exclusively by Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica, the initiative brings togeth...

Photos by Bryan Fabio Herrera "If there's no chocolate in heaven, I'm not going." -- Jane Seabrook There have been dire predictions recently from the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), and others, that the world is running out of chocolate. Said the Washington Post, “We are in the midst of what may be the longest streak of consecutive chocolate deficits in more than 50 years.” Experts...

Photo by Jack Donnelly By Jack Donnelly Yuca is not yucca and it’s not at all yucky. Yuca is cassava in English. It is one of a number of starchy roots important to the tropical diet. It is often sold protected with a layer of paraffin, like rutabagas in the United States. Yucca is common in drier areas of the Americas and the Caribbean and is often used as an ornamental plant. The only ...

Wikimedia Comons Caracas, Apr 22 (EFE; beer context by The Costa Rica Star).- Residents of Venezuela are hunkering down for a long summer without beer and with diminished electricity. Venezuela's Electric Energy Minister Luis Motta Dominguez has announced the start of electricity rationing next Monday due to the drought affecting the entire country, and which will remain in effect for 40 da...

Source: A Small Section of the World ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwired - April 14, 2016) - Illy, a global leader in direct trade with coffee growers, and an industry innovator in sustainability and technology spanning eight decades, will mark key milestones in its storied history, and set the stage for what's next in coffee culture, at the annual Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Expo, Ap...

Wikimedia Commons The Honorable Noel Holder, Agriculture Minister of Guyana arrived in Costa Rica on April 11 as part of a visit to discuss Agricultural priorities among the two countries. Among the discussions held, the main topic will be the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture’s (IICA) Country Strategy 2014-2018. The Agriculture Minister is accompanied by Chief Executi...

Ronald McDonald sits in the Netherlands. Source: Wikimedia Commons New York, Mar 31 (EFE).- McDonald's Corp. plans to open approximately 1,300 fast food restaurants in China over the next five years, CEO Steve Easterbrook said. The top exec at the U.S. multinational said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the firm wants to make China its second largest market worldwide, behin...

Source: Starbucks At the Starbucks 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders this week, president and chief operating officer Kevin Johnson played a video of the company's agricultural research center in Costa Rica to highlight the company’s emphasis on creating a sustainable supply of coffee for future generations. Johnson announced that Starbucks in on track to donate 20 million rust-resistant ...