Mangoes & Memories Vol 2: The Great Secret WhatsApp Mango Trade
See Something Say Something
Ahmed Ali Akbar
4.8 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 31 August 2018
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mangoes are one of the world's most treasured fruit, but for Indian and Pakistani immigrants, it's nearly impossible to get the beloved Alphonso and Chaunsa varietals in America. In this episode, we explore why some people are willing to pay nearly $9 a pop for a taste of home. We talk to food writer Myles Karp about the complications Indian mangos have faced entering the US, from political bans to regulation to the plain old ravages of time and rot. Then, Ahmed calls up his cousin Medeeha who spent her summer in New Jersey as the middle woman for an international mango trade organized on WhatsApp. Plus: listeners and friends of the show share their relationship to the fruit.
Read Myles' works on mangoes here: https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/gyw4zb/alphonso-best-mangoes-india-us
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I believe the best way to eat a mango is to take the whole mango with the skin intact and roll it onto a table. |
| 0:07.0 | It just becomes mushy on the inside. |
| 0:09.0 | And then you know where the top bit is, where it's hanging from the tree, you rip that off, and then you can drink the mango juice from there. |
| 0:15.0 | It's just pure mango juice. |
| 0:18.0 | The best way to eat a mango is, in my opinion, whole. I'm just like washing my |
| 0:24.6 | hand and having like a whole mango in my hand because I'm crazy and I like to eat it that way, |
| 0:30.5 | like an animal. Can you imagine living a life where you don't appreciate mangoes? |
| 0:38.7 | Hey everyone, I'm Amadale Yerpher, and this is See Something Say Something's second episode of our food |
| 0:44.9 | miniseries, mangoes, meat, and memories. |
| 0:47.5 | As you've probably gathered, this is our mango episode, and we'll be covering how deeply the |
| 0:51.9 | fruit resonates across cultures and the lengths to which people will go to get the best mango. |
| 0:57.0 | But how much did the Pakistanis of New Jersey pay for mangoes from just through you? |
| 1:02.0 | It was close to $3,000, actually. |
| 1:04.3 | $3,000. |
| 1:07.8 | If you see something, you better, you better say something. |
| 1:16.2 | Nothing at all, nothing at all. |
| 1:23.2 | In case you weren't aware, mangoes are said to have originated in the Indian subcontinent. |
| 1:27.3 | Some people say India has the best mango variety, the Alfonso, but that's obviously up for debate. |
| 1:42.0 | Pakistani mangoes are the best. But also, mangoes have spread across the world. It means so much to people across so many different cultures. So here's what you're going to hear this episode. You're going to continue to hear from listeners and friends of the show, |
| 1:43.8 | and we're going to talk to my cousin, |
| 1:47.9 | who spent her summer buying thousands of dollars of mangoes from a guy off of WhatsApp, and Miles Carp, who's done a lot of research on why it's hard to find the best mangoes |
| 1:53.3 | in the U.S. But first, you're going to hear from me. |
... |
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