Talk:Gallo pinto

Tico vs. Nica controversy

I've attempted to give equal share to both Costa Rica and Nicaragua in the article. Until someone can come forward with a reliable source as to where the dish really originated, I think that's the best we can do.

I'm only knowledgeable about the Nicaraguan side of the debate. It may well be that this particular bit of cultural history is lost in the sands of time, and if that's the case, we may have to settle for documenting the controversy. --ryos 04:22, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

For what it's worth: googling "Costa Rica" "gallo pinto" yields 49,200 hits, "Nicaragua" "gallo pinto" 26,200 hits. This may reflect only CR's higher online presence, but it does suggest the dish is currently associated at least as much with CR as with Nicaragua. I edited the page to be consistent with this. --ScottMainwaring 04:42, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Gallo Pinto is the National Food of Costa Rica since the Colonial era (18th Century). For the sake of the truth, the history tell that all this territory: Costa Rica and Nicaragua was one Country, the red beans are preferred in Nicaragua, there is a good chance that nicaraguans have introduced the gallo pinto in Costa Rica in a time where the Province of Guanacaste and Nicoya was occupied by Costa Ricans, there are many similarity between Nicaraguans and Costa Ricans, the society of Costa Rica may not accept that because they reject the idea based on discrimination on any indian blood. The history is there to tell us that both societies have more to share than to discrept. I do believe that it is not right for the Costa Ricans to claim that the dish have its origin in their territory, even they know that the dish is 100% Indian, it is Chorotega, the Chorotega Culture was in Nicaraguan Territory, Guanacaste was part of Nicaragua as Nicoya was also, and the culture of Chorotegans the main dish are red beans. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.131.40.64 (talk) 00:47, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

It is not a Nicaraguan food. Our National Food consists of white rice and black beans, cooked with cilantro, white onion, red sweat chilli and garlic in butter. It is served with fried eggs, bread or tortilla, with fried plataners, sausages and sour cream. Also cofee, "agua dulce", or/and orange juice. Nicaragua's national plate is called "Nacatamal".

Nacatamal is the most famous and celebrated dish of Nicaragua. You can check it out here in Wikipedia, just type Nacatamal in the search engine and you will se the article there. Gallo Pinto is a costarrican food, originated in the Colonial capital of Cartago during the 18th century. Today Gallo Pinto is known to be a Breakfast meal. At lunch time, supper and dinner is commonly eaten any international origin dish. Traditional diches are only present in celebrations and parties among families or mayor events. But Gallo Pinto is eaten mostly daily as breakfast in our culture.

From a curious Costa Rican:

I want to know why this reference keeps getting deleted from the Gallo Pinto Wikipedia entry and continues to be refered to as a legend:

According to Costa Rican daily newspaper La Nacion the name "gallo pinto" was given in San Sebastian, one of the southern neighborhoods of San Jose, the Costa Rican capital:

For the celebration of the San Sebastian Day (January 20), a rich farmer invited a lot of people to his home. He announced he would kill and prepare the spotted rooster (gallo pinto) that he had been feeding for a long time. So many people accepted his invitation that the rooster was insufficient to give everyone even a pinch of bird. The cooks, not having anything else to give to so many guests, decided as an emergency solution to prepare a big pot of mixed rice and beans. The following day, as most people felt deceived, they made fun of the incident, asking each other if they had tried the gallo pinto, even though they knew that probably the only thing they had eaten was rice and beans. Ever since then mixed rice and beans has been called gallo pinto. (La Nación, San José, Costa Rica, Sept. 5, 2003) .

If you read the article closely you will see that the author himself recognizes that the origin of the dish is difficult to determine. He follows to give a possible story about the name of the dish. It seems to me that the purpose of the editorial piece is not to give a historically rigorous account of the name but rather an account about a town's (San Sebastian) story of the origin of the name. The followng lines back me up: "En San Sebastián. Sin embargo, esa no es la verdadera historia." That is why we cannot accpet that source as a historical account of the name. Finally, inclusion of the story itself might be warranted under consensus but we have to be careful of undue weight. Brusegadi 19:13, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

Extra recipe

Someone added an other recipe. Gallo pinto in the U.S. - - To make Gallo Pinto a la Americana (American Style) find two cans of black or red beans without condiments. Goya and most large retail stores carry brands with such already cooked and salted beans. - The next step in washing the contents of the regular sized cans in a small bowl with water. Rinse a few times until the spum from the preservatives has run out and the water comes clear. An exception can be made with bean soup cans that need not be washed out of preservatives. Then fry in little olive, sasaffras or canola oil and butter (it is okay to substitute this for margarine and the oil mix when there is someone in the family with lactose intolerance) - - Appart cook rice. You can cut on grease by just pan toasting the rice -two cups- to four cups of water. Both the beans and rice should be cook longer for a harder, crispier consistency or less for more relaxed end product. however the rice will be made in 15 to 18 minutes depending on heat at stove top and 15 minutes sharp in microwave -Japanese cookers are available at Wal Mart and other stores.

Can we find a way to accomodate it with the already existing one? Since it mentions company's names I removed it because it may violate policy. Brusegadi 08:09, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

I would just like to say, as a Historian, specializing in Latin American Culture and Society, that the origins of Gallo Pinto are Nicaraguan. No doubt about it. Costa Rican claims of it's creation of Gallo Pinto hold as much water as the claims made by Costa Rica in 1979 when they claimed that they did not harbor communist forces during the Nicaraguan Revolution.

Riiiight, and youre a theology professor too right? provide citations from credible sources, or refrain from violating NPOV. VanTucky 18:06, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

I've visited both countries extensively over the years and met people from all walks of life. The rice and beans dish prepared in both countries are different in ingredients as well as the variety of bean used one being red and the other black. In CR this dish is prepared with black beans, cilantro (actually is called culantro in both countries)and is called CASADOS not gallo pinto. In nicaragua the dish is prepared with a variety of a small red bean that's got a very distinctive flavor from other varieties of red beans, chopped green pepper and onion is added to the mix, they call it over there gallo pinto. I can say from personal experience that many costa ricans resent that the name of one of their main staple(CASADOS)had been replaced by the ever increasingly popular nicaraguan gallo pinto. Even though nicaraguans and costa ricans resemble each other more than they can accept, there seems to be a rift exacerbated by the massive migration of poor nicaraguans into costa rica that started in the mid 80's as the result of the civil war in that country. There is an estimated half a million nicaraguans now living in costa rica whose population is estimated between 4.5 and 5 million people, this explains why the term gallo pinto has become popular in urban areas of CR like san jose. In the rest of central america and in the U.S. with large concentrations of spanish speaking people, gallo pinto is a synonym of nicaragua. I want to conclude this with a story from one of my co-workers while vacationing in CR last year at a restaurant near central plaza in san jose. One of the items in the menu offered a dish called "vigoron" that is yuca (cassava) with pork cracklings (chicharron) and a salad made with cabbage, diced tomatoes and vinegar, a note on the menu claimed that vigoron is a very typical costa rican dish when in fact the dish originated in granada nicaragua and I know that for a fact since I've never heard or seen this dish beyond some border towns like alajuela where used to be offered in restaurants owned by nicaraguan expatriates.

Jeff Dazbohrk Cutler Bay, FL. USA —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.3.131.33 (talk) 03:15, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

What is it?

This article is a little light on answering the simple question, what is gallo pinto. It provides some variation and such, but doesn't list what the canonical form(s) are in each country.User:!jim^talk _contribs 20:54, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Good point. A basic definition has now been provided. VanTucky ^talk 21:00, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Awesome, thanks! User:!jim^talk _contribs 08:01, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

im so hood i wear my pants below my waist an avrage that you and man are im so hood and i got these golds up in my house and you get closer to my house than you no what im talking about im out the hood and if you feel me put hands up hood hood my hood *iger in this satnd up hood if you not from here you can walk it out than your not hood if you dont know what talking about im im im im im so hood im so h to the doubel o d............. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.44.140.129 (talk) 18:00, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

This is great and all...

But WTF is gallopinto? It says it has rice and varying spices, and that its origin is debated, but never actually says what it is! 128.146.46.2 (talk) 17:12, 4 May 2009 (UTC)