• On the National Day of Costa Rican Gastronomy, the Ministry of Culture and Youth opens the call for the XVIII National Traditional Cooking Competition 2026, this year dedicated to recognizing and showcasing the knowledge, flavors, and culinary traditions of the Huetar Norte Region as part of Costa Rica’s cultural heritage.
San José, June 18, 2026. Costa Rican gastronomy is much more than a culinary expression: it is memory, identity, knowledge, and one of the most living manifestations of the country’s cultural heritage. With the purpose of recognizing and safeguarding the food traditions that enrich this cultural diversity, the Ministry of Culture and Youth (MCJ), through the Directorate of Cultural Heritage, announced the opening of registrations for the XVIII edition of the National Traditional Cooking Competition 2026, which this year will be dedicated to highlighting and celebrating the knowledge, flavors, and culinary practices of the Huetar Norte Region.
The initiative is part of the National Strategy for Costa Rican Gastronomy Fogón Futuro 2025–2035, a vision that recognizes cuisine as a driver of cultural, economic, and territorial development, capable of strengthening local identities, promoting generational transmission of traditional knowledge, and enhancing the value of food-related products and knowledge.
“Each traditional recipe tells a story about who we are as a country. In Costa Rica’s kitchens live knowledge inherited through generations, ways of relating to our territory, and a cultural richness that deserves to be preserved and projected into the future. With Fogón Futuro, we reaffirm our commitment to recognizing the bearers of tradition and to continuing to strengthen gastronomy as an essential expression of our national identity,” said the Minister of Culture and Youth, Jorge Rodríguez Vives.
A competition to safeguard food heritage
Since its creation in 2001, the Traditional Cooking Competition has become one of the State’s main tools for the documentation, recognition, and safeguarding of Costa Rican food heritage.
Beyond being a culinary competition, the contest seeks to identify and make visible the people who keep alive knowledge transmitted mainly through oral tradition and daily practice. Each registered recipe constitutes a cultural testimony that helps understand the relationship between communities and their territories, as well as the transformations that have shaped Costa Rica’s gastronomic identity.
Who can participate?
People over 18 years old who know, practice, and identify with the culinary history and food traditions of their communities may participate.
Participants may register a single recipe in one of the following categories:
- Main dish
- Side dish
- Breads and desserts
- Traditional beverages
Recipes must be linked to family or community culinary tradition and represent knowledge and practices associated with Costa Rican food heritage.
Ten million colones to recognize tradition bearers
The XVIII edition of the Traditional Cooking Competition will award a total of ₡10 million in prizes, distributed among the top three places in each category.
In addition to the financial recognition, the selected recipes will become part of the institutional processes for documentation and safeguarding of Costa Rican food heritage, strengthening national culinary memory and expanding the record of knowledge associated with traditional cuisine.
Registration open
Registrations will be open from June 22 to July 31, 2026.
Interested participants may complete the form available on the website of the Ministry of Culture and Youth, accessible starting Monday, June 22 on the Ministry’s website.
They must also attach photographs of the preparation process and presentation of the registered dish, according to the participation guidelines.
Questions may be sent to the email address: certamencocinatradicional@patrimonio.go.cr
Cooking as memory, identity, and future
With this new edition, the Ministry of Culture and Youth reaffirms its commitment to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and to consolidating a cultural policy that recognizes gastronomy as a strategic expression for the country’s development.
Because traditional cooking does not only preserve recipes. It preserves memories, knowledge of biodiversity, community bonds, and ways of understanding the world that continue to give meaning and identity to Costa Rican communities.
On the occasion of the National Day of Costa Rican Gastronomy, the country once again places at the center of the table what unites us: the flavors, knowledge, and stories that continue building Costa Rica’s identity.
