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Cooking Class 'Cook Like a Local' La Fortuna: Authentic Costa Rican Cuisine Experience
4.4
59 Ratings
La Fortuna de San Carlos
Immerse yourself in Costa Rican culture through its cuisine with our ‘Cook Like a Local’ cooking class in La Fortuna. Learn to make traditional dishes and enjoy a memorable meal!
Immerse yourself in Costa Rican culture through its cuisine with our ‘Cook Like a Local’ cooking class in La Fortuna. Learn to make traditional dishes and enjoy a memorable meal!
Duration:
2 hours, 30 minutes
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Hunters & Gatherers Costa Rica - We’ll pick you up from your hotel and drive about 5 minutes to an exclusive, hidden out place next to the enchanting El Salto waterfall near downtown La Fortuna. Upon arrival to your Costa Rica Cooking Class, you’ll learn about the garden and farm where the fresh cooking ingredients come from. To get started,…
- Hunters & Gatherers Costa Rica - We’ll pick you up from your hotel and drive about 5 minutes to an exclusive, hidden out place next to the enchanting El Salto waterfall near downtown La Fortuna. Upon arrival to your Costa Rica Cooking Class, you’ll learn about the garden and farm where the fresh cooking ingredients come from. To get started, you’ll try your hand at mixing up a delicious homemade tropical Costa Rican cocktail
- our famous Kiss of the Cacique! You will then get ready to learn how to cook up some Tico-style “picadillos,” tortillas and “guisados” for a delicious sit-down
- “Casado” meal and plenty of captivating conversation!
After dinner, relax with a cup of coffee, share some recipes and head back to your hotel to dream about the scrumptious Tico food you’ll recreate back home!
What's Included
- Cooking class
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Dinner
- Cooking class
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Dinner
What's Not Included
- Gratuities
- Gratuities
Meal Options
- Casado - You’ll be gathering all of the farm fresh ingredients and chopping up vegetables from local providers and creating a delicious “Casado” meal.
- Casado - You’ll be gathering all of the farm fresh ingredients and chopping up vegetables from local providers and creating a delicious “Casado” meal.
Additional Information
Traveling abroad offers a unique sense of authenticity when one truly experiences the local way of life. Every culture expresses itself through its food, and the people of Costa Rica are no exception – it extends well beyond the stereotypical ‘rice and beans.’ We extend a warm invitation for you to savor an authentic meal prepared in the Costa Rican…
Traveling abroad offers a unique sense of authenticity when one truly experiences the local way of life. Every culture expresses itself through its food, and the people of Costa Rica are no exception – it extends well beyond the stereotypical ‘rice and beans.’ We extend a warm invitation for you to savor an authentic meal prepared in the Costa Rican tradition, which will likely stand out as the most memorable dining experience of your trip! Take part in crafting the beloved Costa Rican cocktail, the ‘Kiss of the Cacique,’ followed by cooking a hearty traditional ‘casado’ feast. You’ll create dishes such as ‘pollo sudado’ and ‘picadillo,’ along with handcrafted tortillas and more!
- Minimum age is 5 years old.
- Please let us know if you have any allergies or food restrictions. We have options for gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, etc,
Location
La Fortuna de San Carlos
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.4
(59 Ratings)
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Dawnme4973gk
Jun 8, 2025
Fun night out - Great cooking class and Salsa dance class for a couple! - Kathy was an excellent teacher, sharing so many authentic local facts about farming, cuisine/ingredients, and local customs! Super fun for a couple! We also took her salsa dance class, and enjoyed it immensely.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Carlyl354
May 17, 2025
Great excursion. - This was a wonderful excursion. It was a semi-private class (4 of us) with a wonderful teacher, Jenny. We made a delicious meal and learned about Costa Rican cuisine. Highly recommend this company!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
O9309kcnancyh
May 6, 2025
Jennie is a wonderful chef and teacher - Jennie was an amazing chef, instructor and host ! Her expert guidance throughout our meal preparation resulted in a delicious dinner. She shared so much interesting information about the ingredients, how they were sourced and how to modify if certain ingredients were not available. She taught a really fun class and is a wonderful instructor. Thank you Jennie !
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mika
May 6, 2025
Learn how to make a Costa Rican meal with a talented chef - We had an unforgettable cooking experience with Chef Jenny. I was so impressed by how a meal that was seemingly prepared with very simple ingredients could be so incredibly tasty. Jenny was a great instructor and made the whole process go so smoothly- an entire feast was prepared before we knew it. It was fun to eat as a group and meet new people too. Jenny also served a dessert that was her own creation and served a refreshing blackberry juice with dinner. It was the best meal I had on this trip! Would highly recommend this experience to anyone looking for a fun and delicious evening.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Elainej285
Feb 15, 2025
Cook Like A Local - Cooking with Chef Jenny Madrigal was so much fun, educa and of course yummy. She had us pounding, chopping, mincing and making tortillas with our hands to create a delicious authentic Costa Rican meal. I would highly recommend this experience.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Road43428647215
Feb 6, 2025
Cooking Class, Jacamar Tours, Costa Rica - it was an amazing cooking class. It happened to be only my husband and I. We did not know what to expect and exceeded our expectations. Our itinerary listed the traditional Costa Rican cuisine that we would learn how to cook. As soon as we arrived, we were put to work under a supervision of the lady chef. We learned how to prepare a traditional vegetable salad; home-made plantain and yuca (also known as cassava) chips, chicken stew and tortillas -- fresh and so good. I will never buy them in a store again. Our guide Jason helped us communicate with the chef by translating from English to Spanish, making it even more authentic experience. He also gave us a tour of the garden. The cooking class culminated with a delicious lunch of what we had cooked with the chef's help. There was abundance of delicious food. We highly recommend this tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Reena_p
Dec 26, 2024
Was great experience and... - Was great experience and recipe was also shared via email. We also Enjoyed the food we cooked for dinner.
Review provided by Viator
Lindsey
Dec 14, 2024
Cooking Class With Kathy A. - Enjoyed local cooking class with Kathy A, the meal and cocktail were delicious. Kathy and her staff did their best to keep everyone engaged, while at times only a few had “assigned tasks”. The amount of “work” a person does in this class will depend on the class size, when I attended there were roughly 16 people in attendance. During these lulls she did a great job educating the group on local cuisine and customs. I highly recommend this experience as a way to immerse yourself in the local culture while in La Fortuna.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lexibelle
Jul 17, 2025
Delicious cooking - We wanted to learn how to cook like a local so we can enjoy some of these delicious dishes at home. Kathy was a great host and teacher. She had all of us help prep and prepare the meals. We learned how to make several yummy dishes. All of it was great. She also sent us the recipes via email which is great to have.
I highly recommend this experience.
We had an issue with pick up for the class and that is why I knocked one star off. Not due to Kathy and her class but the organizer was not very organized.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Susanhi4434jn
Jan 14, 2025
good instructor and the food was good - Was not as expected - its open air and it was just the two of us. I thought the space was somewhat unsanitary with only a small sink and no hot water. Our instructor was great - we learned a lot about the local customs. We loved our food as well. While we were eating they pulled up a van and started to clean it right next to where we were eating - not a very nice ambiance. The driver to and from was a bit rough and I was a bit nervous on the drive. We ere supposed to receive the recipes but never did.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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