On June 1, 14 students and faculty members of the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute traveled to Costa Rica to study the native foods of the Central American country. The trip, a part of the Culinary 475 Regional Cuisine course, offered the students the ability to study not only the country’s produce and products but also the tourism and culinary education services available there.”It is a flavorful cuisine. Not based on heat, not based on the heavy use of garlic. The flavor profile is relatively mild compared to South Louisiana,” Chef George Kaslow, professor at the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute said, “They rely more on the freshness of local ingredients for their flavors than on condiments and seasonings.”

While in the country, the students spent time with culinary students from Costa Rica at la Instituto Nacional (INA), a large school that provides most of the service industry training for the country and emphasizes hotel and food service. While there, the students participated in a Costa Rican breakfast cooking class as well as a fish fabrication class.

According to Kaslow, there are three main fish used in Costa Rica. “The Mahi-Mahi is considered the working man’s fish, while the Corvina, or Black Sea Bass is more of an upscale restaurant fish. They also consume a lot of tilapia, which is a farmed fish.”

Some of the students were also asked to take part in the production of a cooking show. Doris Goldgewicht, host of “Sin Secretos con Doris,” the most popular cooking show in Costa Rica, invited several of the students to come on her show and demonstrate Cajun and Creole techniques.

The trip also allowed the students an opportunity to cook at a beach resort. Barcelo Playa Langosta, located on the Pacific Northwest coast of Costa Rica, hosted the students for two nights. While there the students served a Creole dinner for 260 people the first night and a 270-person Cajun dinner on the second evening. According to Kaslow, both of the events were well received.

To raise money for the trip, students in the class participated in various fundraising events one of which was the Thank You Bite of The Arts Committee dinner. This event is held to thank those who took part in the planning of the Bite of The Arts dinner, the major yearly fundraising event for the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute.