The Mango of Doom
The mango of doom sits on the kitchen counter, ripening, wrapped in a light foam netting.
Today or tomorrow will be the optimal time to eat it, now that it's more yellow than green and giving off a mango perfume.
It is irradiated, expensive, and has possibly flown more miles this year than I have.
I've been told that it will explain why my friends who grew up in India look on with pity at what I would call a good mango: "No, no, you have to have a real mango, like the Alphonso..."
Now, having had real apples, I don't eat Red Delicious "apples"--mealy, flavorless, apples in shape only--anymore. But then there are good orchards in the Santa Cruz hills, and one of the best apple orchardists around sells at the nearby Friday farmers market. I can buy great apples there for the price of ordinary apples in the major grocery stores.
Do I want my understanding of mangoes to undergo this same Red Delicious evolution?
Today or tomorrow will be the optimal time to eat it, now that it's more yellow than green and giving off a mango perfume.
It is irradiated, expensive, and has possibly flown more miles this year than I have.
I've been told that it will explain why my friends who grew up in India look on with pity at what I would call a good mango: "No, no, you have to have a real mango, like the Alphonso..."
Now, having had real apples, I don't eat Red Delicious "apples"--mealy, flavorless, apples in shape only--anymore. But then there are good orchards in the Santa Cruz hills, and one of the best apple orchardists around sells at the nearby Friday farmers market. I can buy great apples there for the price of ordinary apples in the major grocery stores.
Do I want my understanding of mangoes to undergo this same Red Delicious evolution?