How to Eat a Mango: Caribbean-Style
You would think this post would be instructional. But that’s just the point. Eating a mango Caribbean-style is so much less a serious relationship and so much more a memorable summer crush. You kina just have to go with the flow, or flow where you go.
In a hand-sanitized world that may not be prepared to lick some juice (however tempting) off an elbow, I’ll ask you to relax and read and try not to judge, cause as Jilly from Philly might say, a sister is about to ‘get dirty’.
The last time I went to visit my family in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, I inhaled about eight to ten mangoes daily. I mean that was food, and it was bread-basket-teaser, appetizer, entrée and dessert. Let it be known that sometime during that trip where eating, sleeping and limin was a mantra, I lost some seven pounds eating mangoes and feasting on my mother’s cooking! I’ve since regained that seismic seven, and miraculously lost it again (more on this later), but for the memory of eating mangoes on the daily, I’ll call it even.
When I went looking for a mango trail, so to speak, across the Internet, it was not because I needed assistance with the mango. Instead, I wanted to see if anyone had ever put into words the pure unadulterated pleasure of eating this mystic fruit.
Few went beyond the obligatory serrated knife.
As I continued to ruminate about my mango crush, Colin Channer and his wondrously filling Waiting In Vain came to mind. Let’s just say, the mango was fair game in the 1st chapter.
“He took a mango from a bowl and peeled it with his teeth…”
I could go on and talk about the sharing of fruit between characters, but for the off-chance that I would get out of context with such pretext, I’ll let you read it yourself. All you need know is that reading Mr. Channer and his writer’s words, is much like devouring a mango: Caribbean-style.
My Auntie D Devouring/Enjoying her grafted mango (SK-Style)
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am well aware that the world over has it ways and varieties with mango. And I particularly love the way my Trini brethren celebrate it. It was from them I discovered all the delightful ways to stew, salt (chow) and curry and season and chutney a mango to the point where my taste buds could identify every salty, sweet, sour (tart) and hot (peppery) flavor imaginable.
Thing is, I’m more often in the mood for the bare naked version, where there is limited prep, and far less room for culinary disaster.
Enter the mango, preferable a fresh picked one—any variety will do. And imagine your paradise. There is no clever chemistry in detecting ripeness. It’s about a feel (gently — there is such a thing as force-ripe) and a smell (go to town). Color has less bearing here than in the real world, and that is as it should be. The mango-pantone is rich, filled with green, red, purplish-red, yellow, spotted, or any combination of the above, and come in all shapes and sizes.
Take a bite. Eating a mango is elementary, Eden and ethos all at the same time.
So, if you’re standing there with your serrated knife ready to assault the skin and tender belly of a mango, use a lover’s heart and consider that your fruit may not be ready. Although, it does depend on whatever recipe you may have devised or be following to the letter. However, for those reading this strictly for the love of the mango, the only instruments you need are your hands, some courage and your imagination.
How have you enjoyed a mango lately? Serrated-knife-lovers may also apply. Live and learn I say. Live and learn. 
ABOUT THE WRITER
Hi there, I’m Tynisha C. Leon, writer, West Indian, mango-lover, founder and Editor-in-chief of DASHEEN magazine — the online destination where culture feeds imagination. Join the culture chat on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr! If you’d like to contribute, drop me a line anywhere, I’d love to read/see your unique views! Bless up!
Okay — I am going on the mango diet immediately. I love this post!
Thanks Aleesha! The researcher in me now has to go out and find what it is about the mango that helps to make a body feel and look so good. I will definitely let you know what I find.
I think you know the best way to enjoy a mango, is sitting on the kitchen step with you two elbows on your knees. The sweet nectar running down your arms, all the while you trying to catch every drop. I don’t think eating mango ‘caribbean style’,“In a hand-sanitized world” would do the mango justice. I love the work.….Keep it up.
And I agree with you 100% @ Michael! I love that image of sitting on the kitchen steps up to my elbows in mango juice.
Awww man how I long for that real sweet nectar that mangoes produce. This peice makes me want to go out and eat every mango I see, I love!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ll tell you what John, how about you write a conscious record about the mango and how to do it right
“use a lover’s heart” I could not have said it better myself…I am LOVING it!
I thought you would appreciate that line
There is not a better mango than a carribbean mango, I have tastes a few in my travels around the world and there is nothing like an Caribbean mango… I sometimes upset myself by buying a mango from Walmart, but then it reminds me of everything I miss in the Caribbean.…
I co-sign everything cuz! Can’t believe ATL would do you dirty like that, but there is always home. And maybe that’s a good thing, because someone or something should always bring us back. Love ya!
Dasheen, Am in SVG right now about to indulge in some ripe and juicy fresh off the tree pallover. Yum!! Yum!! The ultimate way to partake in the mango experience is to pick it and eat it. I remember those summer holidays when we would go to the mountain and sit in a mango tree all day eating mangoes. Oh yeah! all day.. Those were the days.
Ok Surge, I have a visual of you sitting in a mango and devouring mangos.
Remember you (in your white pants no less) and me in the rain forest trying to stone down some mango? Good times indeed! Thanks for stopping by!
Must find mangos… now!
Mariah! You must know my friend that I am always available for this kind of expedition
Mangoes. I know about mangoes (first job was selling them roadside). And now that I live in Pittsburgh, I miss mangoes. Like you said, there is nothing like eating, I mean devouring a mango and the juices running down to your elbows. I’m so biased about Caribbean mangoes that I refuse to buy one from a supermarket. And when it comes to “mango” flavored anything, I am a skeptic and then, a critic. Thanks for reminding me of home, childhood, family and happy times.
Leria! Thanks for stopping by and devouring this mango post. Now on the mango tip, you know your mother is the end all of my mango love. Now that I think of it, send me a pic of your Mom doing the mango thing and I’ll update the article with it. Definitely need to raid that vehicle when I visit. And keep your head up sweet, the happiest times (mango and otherwise) are yet to come!
If u don’t get dirty thoughts eating a mango…u are doing it wrong: How to eat a Mango: Caribbean-style http://bit.ly/9crWvn
RT @MissAngelaDavis: If u don’t get dirty thoughts eating a mango…u are doing it wrong: How to eat a Mango: Caribbean-style http://bit.ly/9crWvn
Lol! I loved this article! It brought back many sticky memories of sitting on the workbench in the back yard sans knife or bowl! Just a bag for the skin and seed!
It is rare that I find a “real mango” here in the states,meaning one that actually tastes and smells like the ones back home! My bf gives me the side eye when I say that but I’m sure it is only because he has yet to taste what a “real mango” tastes like!
LOL at him giving you the side eye. why am I seeing that as clearly as you sad it!
You need to put it on the relationship bucket list—“must enjoy a truly juicy Caribbean mango with honey” He definitely needs to sample ‘the mango’
I am continually humbled/excited by the Mango love. http://dasheenmagazine.com/how-to-eat-a-mango-caribbean-style/ http://fb.me/Fs0sSb6T
BEST MANGO QUOTE: “Hello beautiful. I miss your sweet flesh” via Leria Pearl Felix lol… http://fb.me/udUADHzs
LOVE NOTE: “I still think about that mango article you wrote. it’s such a natural sweet. A natural high, its so… http://fb.me/APfGs2pd
THE MANGO-LOVE! If you read my lil profile blurb then you know I’m a (serious) mango-lover. It is by far my best… http://t.co/b7El12qE
For those who don’t know how to eat a mango (half your life’s missing) here’s a guide. http://t.co/4Vz3GnCC
Dopeness! RT @Trinifood: For those who don’t know how to eat a mango (half your life’s missing) here’s a guide. http://t.co/jUjoyjh7
You are right about the many ways we Trinis prepare a mango and I remember being scolded by my niece from Missouri when she visited…You take a perfectly good fruit and ruin it with all that other stuff( referring to mango chow)..Hard to believe her mother was the one who used to lace my chow with pepper as a child and threaten me with excommunication from the family if I couldn’t stand the heat…Truth is though I think all those other forms of mango preparation we use are because of our impatience with the ripe fruit…As boys you would literally sit below a tree each day looking for the first signs of colour that said ripe and when pelting or picking with a rod you invariably pulled down some half ripe ones so with nothing to waste those go for chow chutney or currying..recycling before it was vogue. Get a good starch mango though and nothing beats the fun of biting a small slit into the tip softening the mango in your mouth and squeezing the juice and pulp into your mouth..Delightful
I just nibble a hole in di skin at the top point, mash the mango and squeeze di juice right out into my mouth. When that dun, I tear way di skin and…next ting you know, di seed bald.
Love this one, Empress.
Kaya Omodele recently posted..Brooklyn Beast: Nineties Sick Degrees
For those who don’t know how to eat a mango (half your life’s missing) here’s a guide. http://t.co/4Vz3GnCC
For those who don’t know how to eat a mango (half your life’s missing) here’s a guide. http://t.co/4Vz3GnCC
For those who don’t know how to eat a mango (half your life’s missing) here’s a guide. http://t.co/4Vz3GnCC
How to eat a mango Caribbean style…Straight from @Dasheenmagazine: Where Culture Feeds Imagination http://t.co/lxngT1BK
For those who don’t know how to eat a mango (half your life’s missing) here’s a guide. http://t.co/4Vz3GnCC
For those who don’t know how to eat a mango (half your life’s missing) here’s a guide. http://t.co/4Vz3GnCC
Had a julie mango just last night!
You can check out this link where Dasheen Magazine talks about devouring a… http://t.co/gYayJCNF
Had a julie mango just last night!
You can check out this link where Dasheen Magazine talks about devouring a… http://t.co/gYayJCNF
How to eat a mango Caribbean style…Straight from @Dasheenmagazine: Where Culture Feeds Imagination http://t.co/lxngT1BK
I just bought some mangos from the farmer’s market and had to re-read this to set my mind right before devouring the fruit!
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