Mangoes

This is a chapter from my fifth book called Freedom

I am taking us on an epicurious journey. A sweet escape. A juicy reprieve. A mangolicious passage that is ripe for the picking. Who does not like mango? I do not know of a single person who does not like mango. If you do not like mango, are you even human? Mango is the most likable fruit in the world. Often referred to as the king of fruits. There are mango festivals that celebrate this great fellow. Right now in Trinidad I am seeing posts on facebook for the upcoming Mango Melee festival. I was curious and confused about the word melee. The dictionary has the meaning to be "a confused fight or scuffle" and "a confused crowd of people". The festival website says that the word "melee" has many meanings, the definition for our movement is a "shindig: a lively party, especially one celebrating something." Our use in this way locally might be a derivation it seems. I do not know if this is an exaggeration or not but I saw a post on facebook highlighting a man in India known as the "Mango Man of India" who is growing 1600 varieties of mango. His name is Haji Kalimullah Khan. I could not find a word for the study of mangoes or someone who studies mangoes. I nominate the use of mangology and mangologist. A person who studies fruits is called a pomologist.

I read that the Portuguese brought the mango to the West Indies and Trinidad. Mangoes originated in India over 5,000 years ago in the Hindo-Berma region. The word mango has roots in the Tamil language. I also read that the indentured laborers brought mangoes to Trinidad also. The hindustani word for mango is aam. My mom does not remember using the word aam for mango growing up. If you ever had to appear on Pick-a-Pan for a revived Mastana Bahar you would now be in the know. I can think of all the ways we prepare and eat this fruit in Trinidad. Curry mango in roti, mango chutney and pholorie, kuchela and pelau, mango chow, mango ice cream, mango cheesecake and red mango. I even know of the red mango ice cream sold in Tobago at a Store Bay ice cream parlor. Now I am wondering if the world has invented the seedless mango as yet? Google tells me that scientists in India have developed seedless mangoes but Bard then tells me that there are no true seedless mangoes. The mangoes have very small and immature seeds that are soft and fibrous and can be eaten along with the flesh of the fruit. These "seedless" varieties develop through a process called parthenocarpy, which is when a fruit develops without fertilization.

I read that a mango tree takes about 6 years to start bearing fruit and some trees live and bear fruit for up to 300 years. When I was a young boy growing up in San Fernando, I had an endless supply of mangoes from two trees in the yard. A doux doux mango tree and some other type of mango. My mom tells me that my grandfather planted those mango trees. Those mango trees are no longer and made way for housing. We are losing our mango trees and not enough people are planting mango trees. We lose our Trinidadianess more and more when we lose the mango trees. Mango should be made the national fruit of Trinidad and Tobago. I remember buying mango chow in primary school from a big glass jar where it must have been soaking in from the night before. Probably costed a few bobs back then. I read an article that described Nevis as the mango capital of the Caribbean and they have their rich volcanic soil to thank for the proliferation of mango trees. With so many mango trees around they have the Nevis Mango Festival. Since we put pineapple on pizza, surely we can put mango on pizza. I would love to try that. I would also like to try mango ketchup. I think freedom can be described as sitting under a mango tree on a hot but breezy day with a mouth full of starch mango or any variety that you prefer. Ripe mangoes, like freedom, offer a taste of the possibilities life holds.