In the heat of the global economic crisis - which has impacted the Third World in a way we have never experienced before - we sometimes forget all the good stuff.
We zoom in on all the things that have gone wrong, are going wrong, and may go wrong in the unforeseeable future, and we often overlook the innumerable blessings we still enjoy.
Recently, in conversation with a friend, I was listing the things I would miss if I ever had to leave this little island to take up permanent residence elsewhere, and the list was longer than I had imagined that it would be. Even then, there were others that came to mind after the conversation ended, and I will recount a few of them for you here... just for the fun of it. :)
Mangoes (Mangifera indica)
When a Jamaican says mango..... please understand that it is not the same thing as when an American or European says mango. When a Jamaican says mango (usually pronounced 'man-guh'), you may need to ask: 'What kind?'.
In my lifetime, I have eaten... Blackie, Stringy, Turp'ntime (Turpentine), Julie (St. Julian), Hayden, Bombay, Number 11, Guinea Hen, East Indian, Tommy Atkins and Sweetie mangoes. I probably left one or two off the list, but you need to know that each variety has its own distinct flavour and texture. That being said, I have never met a mango that I did not like. I have my preferences... but I do like them all.
In all of the mango consumption that takes place every summer, I have never had to purchase a mango in all the 37 years and 7 months that I have been alive, because no matter where I have lived on this island - and I have lived in 7 of our 14 parishes at some point - it has always been customary for neighbours and friends to offer of their abundance. (Yes. Jamaicans have a generous streak.)
This arrangement works nicely for all concerned - the beneficiaries enjoy the mango season at minimum cost, and the benefactors avoid dealing with rotting mangoes and the flies that would be attracted by the smell. It's a win-win situation. ;)
Mangoes that are native to Jamaica are automatically 'organic'. You do not go to a supermarket in rural Jamaica and ask for 'organic mangoes', because... what Jamaican mango isn't? So organic are our mangoes - in fact - that if you allow some varieties to ripen on the trees for too long, insect larvae (aka worms) will beat you to the draw. Some of us will pare away those sections and consume the rest, while others just prefer to enjoy their mangoes in the dark... I don't judge.
* * *
Alas, it seems that I got so carried away by the 'mango discourse' that this post has already become an epistle, but I promise to share some of the other things on my list as time goes by.
Here's to Jamaica... land I love. *raises glass of mango drink*
Recipe for Mango Drink (JA style)
mango puree
water
real lime juice
real brown sugar
I apologise for having no measurements to offer, because - when you are Jamaican - drink ingredients are added 'to taste'... and I am not even trying to joke at this point. I grew hearing up things like... "use yuh judgment!" and I suggest that you just take that instruction and run with it.
One Love,
