Healthy Living in Atenas, Costa Rica: A Foodie’s Paradise with Modern Comforts

Atenas
Moving to paradise doesn’t mean giving up the choices you have back home.|©Jessica Ramesch

When I first left the United States to live internationally, moving to a far corner of Northern Europe in 1992, I used to have to bring in my suitcase such staples from home as toothpaste, deodorant, chocolate chips, spices, and sundried tomatoes. You know, the basics you can’t live without.

When I moved to Costa Rica in 1999, I was thrilled to find almost everything available. There was very little I needed to pack into my suitcase from trips home to California, save for those special taco seasonings, Indian curry spices, and affordable electronics. However, over the years, as my diet turned healthier and more specialized, the options became limited again.

But that didn’t last long, as specialized diets are now much more catered for in Costa Rica. There is no more going without or having to search far and wide for healthy products.

If I’m in the market to buy alternative, non-dairy “milk,” there is an abundance of choice, from almond and cashew to oat, coconut, and soy, and multiple brands of each. If you want an alternative flour to wheat, you have more choices here than you’ll probably find in the US. How about potato, sweet potato, yucca (cassava), rice, green banana, plantain, purple corn, red bean, garbanzo (chickpea), and coconut flour? Looking for gluten-free or sugar-free products? No problem. Entire sections in mainstream supermarkets offer an abundance of cereals, snacks, pasta, flour, and breads without gluten. Vegan? Keto diet? Not a problem either.

My little town of Atenas, Costa Rica, where I’ve lived for the past 15 years, has embraced healthy living wholeheartedly. With a population of approximately 35,000, including outlying neighborhoods, we have an international community that numbers around 2,000 to 3,000.

Atenas is home to three health food stores that specialize in all things healthy and organic, from groceries to cleaning products, toothpaste, soaps, shampoos, and even dog treats! The town’s main supermarket, Coopeatenas, also has you covered with a great selection of gluten-free and sugar-free options, fresh organic produce, free-range and organic-fed chicken and eggs, as well as products for vegan and keto diets. You’ll even find plenty of healthy hygiene items there too!

You’ll find two of the health food stores in the same mini-shopping center, Centroplaza, which is also home to the fabulous bakery, café, and deli Crema y Nata—a main expat hangout. Here you’ll find Tu Mercado Natural (Your Natural Market), which sells gluten-free, keto, organic, sugar-free, lactose-free products, and healthy hygiene and cleaning items. They have the best selection of alternative healthy toothpaste that I’ve ever seen! The store shares space with Vida Natural, a natural medicine pharmacy called a macrobiotica in Spanish.

Also in the same shopping center is Vida a Granel, selling bulk-bin style grains, beans, nuts, seeds, spices, and loose-leaf teas, among other items. You can either scoop out the amount of whatever you want to buy into a paper bag or your own container or ask for help from the very friendly (and bilingual!) manager, David. Just about everything is organic and sourced locally or from small importers. The other day, I was thrilled to find dried split peas, French green lentils, and Jasmine rice, along with my usual go-to of red lentils and pinto beans. My bill for 5 kilos of dry goods and spices came to $50—not bargain prices, but not overly expensive either.

Across town at the Love Organic Atenas store, you can find various flavors of bottled and canned kombucha, locally made goat milk yogurt and cheese, a selection of gluten-free pastas, breads and granolas, and organic gourmet chocolate made in Costa Rica, among other products.

In addition to stores in Atenas, private chef Wilfredo Mendoza offers vegan culinary items for sale, like vegan pesto, tahini, and kimchi. He’ll also come to your house and cook you a meal if you like!

My favorite healthy living feature in Atenas is the delivery service that brings fresh organic vegetables, fruit, free-range and organic-fed chicken and eggs, goat cheese, and organic dry goods directly to my house every Friday. Called Enraizadas, which means rooted, it’s a network of farmers from all over the country who grow and make their products organically. I order online at the beginning of the week, and it shows up right at my door on Friday mornings. Plus, I pay online. Easy!

Besides all the fresh organic greens, other vegetables, and fruit, Enraizadas offers exotic items like portobello, oyster, and shitake mushrooms, gourmet kombucha, alternative flours, fresh local coffee and honey, and cacao products from an indigenous community on the Caribbean coast. I spend anywhere from $40 to $60 per week to feed myself and my husband.

Atenas’ farmers’ market offers fresh, local produce for a healthy lifestyle.
Atenas’ farmers’ market offers fresh, local produce for a healthy lifestyle.|©Jessica Ramesch

I supplement what I can’t get from Enraizadas at the weekly Atenas farmer’s market. Every Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, the market is packed with vendors selling fresh vegetables, fruit, baked goods, eggs, dairy products, plants and flowers, and lots of artisan crafts. You can get a fresh fruit juice for $2 and an empanada for $1. I regularly fill my shopping cart with produce, fruit, homemade sourdough bread, and a liter of kombucha for about $50.

Atenas is not alone in its healthy offerings. The trend toward alternative diets and organic lifestyles has swept across Costa Rica, and you’ll be able to find your healthy staples from home almost everywhere, from the Central Valley to major communities on the coast to the mountains. If you choose Costa Rica as your new home for international living, you won’t have to say goodbye to all your favorite lifestyle essentials.

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