FOR THE LOVE OF mango

What is it about the divine mango that brings out the old-time Trini-ness in us? I grew up with a mango monster for a mother. You know what I mean. The kind of person that stops eating food when mango season rolls around, cannot pass a mango tree without commenting on how many fruit are on the tree, or will stop by the homes of strangers and ask for permission to collect fallen mangoes. I did not think there was another person on earth that loved mangoes as much as my mother. How wrong was I? Although I take public transport, it is the rare occasion that I use the Priority Bus Route, but on this particular day I was in a maxi taxi and somewhere in the Bon Air/Lopinot area. Then I saw her, a mature, well-dressed lady, in a drain with a plastic grocery bag collecting mangoes that had fallen. I honestly could not control myself and started laughing. To think she was so driven she had to resort to standing in a drain. Finally, someone worse than my mother.

Now it’s not that I don’t like mangoes, I do enjoy the occasional Julie or Starch mango, but growing up in a house with a mango monster you learn to restrain your mango lust in order to minimise conflict. I just don’t love mangoes to the point that I would pick them up in random places. Mango monsters are not constrained by such sentiments. There is a Julie tree in my yard but that doesn’t mean I have free access to them. My mother knows if one of the mangoes on the tree has gone missing. Yes, she knows and if there is no evidence of it having fallen, there will be an official inquiry into the disappearance of the fruit.

There are two fruits I go crazy for, plums and sugar apple. I used to go nuts over the pomerac from my neighbour’s tree (they were large, dark, sweet and juicy and he would deliver a large bag of peck-free and bruisefree fruit every year) before he cut it down. Now I can’t be bothered since no other pomerac comes close. Plums, I can overdose on freely every season. Luckily, my neighbour has two very fruitful trees in her yard but she doesn’t like plums, so somehow I ended up having free reign over them. I didn’t know I was still agile enough to climb a tree with my plus-sized, middle-aged self. I’ve been known to eat plums until my teeth hurt. My only competition is the squirrels that plague fruit trees in my community, but there is more than enough for us all. Sugar apples, though, are so difficult to get your hands on these days, and when you do see them they are very expensive. I do get a few every year from another neighbour though. The last time I was able to gorge freely on sugar apples I came across them by chance at a market in London. I bought five, ran home and ate them all.

You notice a common theme here, these are fruits that are available free of charge. There is little in Trinidad that you can get free of charge anymore. I’d say at this point the only other things you can get for free in Trinidad and Tobago these days is air and aggravation. Mango in all its luscious glory can still, largely, be had for free. Most people with trees in their yards are so overwhelmed by the abundance of fruit, that they will give to their friends and neighbours or even strangers that ask. That’s a great thing in these days of constantly rising food prices. Between the reduced purchasing power of the TT dollar and the rate of inflation on food prices, it’s getting increasingly difficult to put food on the table. It’s nice to get something that’s delicious and good for you, for free.

Recently I sat in a taxi and an acquaintance of the driver got in the back seat. The exchange between the two usually very stoic individuals made me giggle at the power of mangoes to bring out the silly Trini in even the most sourfaced individuals.

Driver: Aye boy doh go in my yard and pick my mango when I not there eh. Mih neighbours and them see some suspicious people around nah.

Friend: Steups. Boy I would go and pick your ole mango? I have my own trees eh.

Driver: Like if your old mango could be sweeter than my mango.

At which point the two descended into a mock fight that better suited primary school children, that left the other passengers laughing.

The way Trinis love mangoes it’s a wonder that we don’t have a massive official mango festival like in India. The Network of Rural Women producers has been hosting a local event for the last ten years but I think it should be bigger and nationwide.

Apart from the sentimental value of mangoes, there is another reason we shouldn’t neglect this fruit. It is a nutritional powerhouse. That little mango has the potential to protect against leukaemia, colon, breast and prostate cancers. Mangoes are high in Vitamins A, B6 and C, potassium, beta carotene, and polyphenols and is a great source of fibre. I can tell you there isn’t a vitamin brand that is as complete or as delicious as a mango. Your taste doesn’t matter either, there are 75 identifiable types of mangoes grown in Trinidad and Tobago. I am sure you can find one to suit your palate.

So, curry, chow, chutney, kutchela, amchar, salsa, jam, juice, red, salt pruned, ice cream/sorbet, smoothie/punch, ripe, half ripe or green, don’t neglect the humble mango this season. Just because it’s free and plentiful doesn’t mean it’s not good. Indulge to your heart’s content and then some. This is one time I have to concur with the late, great Mae West, “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.”