Food and travel go hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly and one of the best things to do for foodies is a Costa Rica cooking class. As one of Costa Rica’s main economy is still agriculture, many Costa Rican cooking classes also include a farm tour. Farm to table is a big part of the Costa Rican food culture and visitors will get to experience it first hand on a cooking class.
We did a cooking class in La Fortuna, one of the main farming towns in Costa Rica and highly recommend it for families and foodies. Although Costa Rican food is not that well known, visitors have a very enlightening, education and fun experience.
Interesting in doing the same La Fortuna cooking class and farm tour? Click here to book it and get a discount!
La Fortuna Cooking Class and Farm Tour
This La Fortuna cooking class and farm tour is an exclusive tour run by our tour partner and they take you to their own private farm and outdoor kitchen. The guide will take guests through the garden and farm, show them how to pick the ingredients required to make breakfast or lunch and then head to the kitchen to cook what they picked.
Our Costa Rica cooking class and farm tour started off with an introduction to cacao and other fruit trees.
Then we headed off into the farm to pick our next ingredients such as cassava (yuca) and plantains.
One of the unique things about cooking classes in Costa Rica is that it starts at the farm. The guide showed us the various plants and trees, shared information about how to grow and harvest the vegetables/fruits and even allowed us to pull up the cassava! You’ll be able to see what a guava tree looks like and how pineapple is grown which is fascinating!
Most people nowadays don’t even know what an apple tree or a tomato vine looks like, so this kind of cultural tour in Costa Rica is extremely enlightening. Everything is hands on and visitors will learn how difficult it actually is to grow food!
This La Fortuna cooking class really gives you the true “farm to table” experience. You will leave feeling more connected to your food, have a greater understanding and a stronger appreciation for the hard working farmers.
After we picked our ingredients, we headed back to the kitchen to prepare lunch.
Costa Rica Cooking Class Lunch Menu: Achiote Chicken, Yuca Chips, Picadillo, Tortillas
The menu for our La Fortuna cooking class was chicken achiote, yuca chips, tortillas and picadillos. We made the chips from the yuca we picked and seasoned it with the oregano we gathered. They also showed us how to make tortillas, a classic food in Costa Rica.
They also have menus for vegetarians and vegans and they change the menu according to the ingredients of the season. I really liked that they printed out the menu to let guests take home. I thought that was a nice touch and souvenir.
They taught us how to peel yuca and make yuca chips which was delicious. Then we prepared and made the chicken achiote style. Achiote has a very mild flavor and is mostly used as coloring in Costa Rica as it has a red tint. We slow cooked that in a pot with other vegetables.
Then she taught us how to make tortillas with pre-made corn flour. Although tortillas look easy to make, for some reason, I can never get it perfectly round despite having made them many times. But they still taste good and that is what matters right?
After we finished preparing the meal, we then got to eat it which was just as fun as cooking. They prepared some fruit juice for us and although it wasn’t a gourmet meal or anything, it felt so rewarding to eat fresh food that we picked ourselves right from the farm!
La Fortuna Cooking Class Video
To see the whole cooking class and farm tour experience, check out our video below. It’s a lot more fun to watch what this tour is like than to read about it.
In case you’re looking for more fun things to do in La Fortuna, check out the following posts
Remember, if you’re interested in booking any of the tours, click here to go to our booking page to get it with our discount.
Dwight H. says
My wife and I booked this class last minute, for the next day, after having a good experience with the same tour company the day before. It was to be a group class, but we were the only ones at this time, so we got a private session! It’s on a small organic farm a very short distance out of LF. You go into the fields to learn about and pick/cut/pull the necessary ingredients for the meal beforehand. You then prepare the meal step by step, with the help of a local woman (does not speak English), and the naturalist guide who provides lots of useful information, answers my incessant questions, and translates when necessary. Very fun and delicious.
Nancee Davis-Sharkey says
I have limited mobility and can only walk about 2 miles and was considering an ATV tour in La Fortuna. Is that worthwhile to do? Is there a hike that can be done that is worthwhile that is 2 miles or less that would give a volcano view?
Sammi says
Hi Nancee, I think the Arenal Volcano National Park Peninsula Sector + Lake Arenal boat ride is a great option for you. This tour goes to the lake sector of the national park and the trail is completely concrete and paved and it is only about a 1.5 kilometer trail to the observation point. Then you take a leisurely boat ride on the lake to see the Arenal Volcano up close. You can see a video of the tour here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEisvPL8uM0 and we also offer a small discount for this tour here: https://mytanfeet.com/special-deals/la-fortuna-arenal-tours-discount/
Lizzy Rojas says
What is the name of the tour company that runs this cooking class & farm tour? I would love to join!
Sammi says
Hi Lizzy, you can book a tour with our discount using the booking form here: https://mytanfeet.com/special-deals/la-fortuna-arenal-tours-discount/ it’s called Pura Vida Cooking Class
Michele Brown says
Approximately how long did this class last? We are debating between this cooking class and the 2 hour chocolate making class. Thank you so much!
Sammi says
Hello Michele, it’s around 2 hours!
Nancy says
I have read on another site that the cooking class has been bad and not as described. Have you had any more recent feedback in this? My daughter really wants to do
Sammi says
Hi Nancy, there are several cooking classes in La Fortuna, this one is exclusively run by our tour partner on their own farm. We’ve had nothing but good feedback about the tour and we highly enjoyed it ourselves.
Megan says
We just did this tour and cooking class yesterday and loved it! It’s actually one of the best things we’ve done on all three of our trips to Costa Rica. It was like a private tour because there was no other people in our group, and our guide Cindy was awesome! We learned tons about Costa Rican culture and growing food during the farm tour, got to harvest lots of what we cooked, and had such a great time. Cindy was also an excellent translator, so even though we don’t speak much Spanish (yet) it didn’t even feel like there was a language barrier between us and Lucy who taught us how to cook Costa Rican dishes. I don’t eat meat but love seafood, so they graciously switched the menu to fish for us. Everything we made was SO delicious, and we really loved learning how to make our own tortillas! It was an amazing experience, and we’re so glad you recommended it on your blog!!
Sammi says
Thank you so much for the feedback and nice comments Megan, we’re very happy you had a good time and enjoyed the cooking class! We feel that this one in particular goes more in-depth compared to other cooking classes we’ve done in Costa Rica so we’re happy to recommend it on our site.
Jess says
This looks so fun, what’s the name of this place?
Sammi says
It’s an exclusive tour run by our partner, in case you’re interested, you can get more information and request to book with our discount in this link https://mytanfeet.com/special-deals/la-fortuna-arenal-tours-discount/
Jelena says
That looks amazing! I’m actually reading this while visiting La Fortuna! Tomorrow we return to Canada, but this will be an amazing option for when (not if!) we come back. Pura vida!
Sammi says
Hope you can check it out next time 🙂