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June 2012
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I dream in mangoby Serah Acham
The month of June is almost at an end and mango season is in full swing. So let’s celebrate! The Network of Rural Women Producers Trinidad and Tobago (NRWP) certainly thinks we should. On July 8th, 2012, they join forces with The UWI and the Ministry of Food Production, Land and Marine Affairs, to host the 4th Annual Mango Festival. This year’s festival is themed “A celebration of the utility and diversity of mango,” and just $10 gets you in to see the displays, sample the treats and participate in the competitions (or look on). Learn about the 32 different types of mango dispersed throughout our islands, and find out what this diverse fruit can yield—mango paper, soap and even beauty products. Feast on a cupful of mango ice cream while you root for your favourite in the mango sucking competition. You think your grandmother can make the best mango chow or curry mango in T&T? Well, you can head on over to the mango chow and curry mango competitions and find out. Mango products will be on sale as well, so your mango celebration doesn’t have to end with the festival. Buy, take home and savour to your heart’s content. After all, it’s mango season! |
Here at the M&C Office of The UWI, all my colleagues and I need to do is look out the windows of our offices and we’re accosted by the sight of not one, but two large mango trees. I step out the door and look straight ahead, and I can spot a cluster of no less than seven Julie mangoes, still mostly green, but I can see the tops starting to turn red—I think they should be nice and ripe by the end of next week. But, I don’t have to wait that long. A further survey of the tree and I see more and more. Red and yellow bulbs peek out at me from behind the leaves at the top of the tree and I see big ones, hanging off the branches like golden Christmas decorations. A slight turn of my head to the left and there’s the other tree, this one filled with giant, juicy Graham mangoes. They’re too high for me to reach, but I want one oh so badly.