Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Mango Squish

I know this looks totally disgusting, and it's totally not local food, but it tastes so good, and is so much fun you really should try it. I learned this technique for eating a mango when I lived in Brazil in college on an incredible immersion program through the School for International Training. I had been studying Capoeira Angola for a few years, and wanted to go somewhere with a lot of African (specifically Yoruba) influence. Since I was convinced by a Nigerian friend that going to school in a military dictatorship wouldn't be very fun, I opted to head to Bahia, Brazil, and my life was forever changed. Now the details of this trip could go on and on, but the point of this post is simple and short: Mangoes, when ripe are an incredible, extremely wide and delicious food group. Yes I said food group because in any tropical country where mangoes grow you quickly learn that there are dozens of varieties of these fruits, each more delicious than the next and enough of them around to live off of. In Brazil, we would just hop off and bus and go pick a mango off a tree. If there was no time or place to cut it up, we would just do what the local kids did and start massaging the mango until we had fully squished up the fruit beneath the skin. Once the mango was completely soft and supple, we would bite a small hole at the top and start sucking out the delectable fruit pulp. Yes it sounds gross, but seriously, it is incredible, and certainly the least messy way you will ever eat a mango.

To do this you need a fairly ripe mango, one that is soft to the touch. Haitian or other flatter shaped mangoes with smaller sized pits work well, but go ahead and try it with any ripe mango you can find.

4 comments:

  1. An email comment from my friend, artist and super cool mama Muffy:

    arlo will love the mango squish.....those cakes are ridiculously and lyrically lovely. yes to raw veggies before dinner, and on car trips to peoples houses before dinner....and spears of firm tofu to fill 'em up a little,esp when dinner at someone's house might be dubious, or kids will be too busy to eat or eat well...have you ever squeezed lemon juice before the cinnamon on apple slices? we call it apple pie without the crust.

    now if only mango trees grew in Maine..

    ReplyDelete
  2. I remember when Enroue taught me this mango eating method back at the Coop in Brooklyn...I was flabbergasted that the entire previously complicated and very messy process of eating a mango could be reduced to a method so simple, elegant and most of all--FUN!

    So cool to see this method in full-color photos being posted for all the world to see!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the comment Matt! I agree that it is amazing to see a mango eaten without all the usual mess. It is surprising to me how many people have come up to me in person about this post to say that they have recently tried the "Mango Squish" and loved it! Wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can't believe I actually had a mango on hand. Writing this comment and eating my mango...delicious

    ReplyDelete