This is the first in what will probably be many posts on the mango (Mangifera indica L.). The video associated with this article has given me a new aspiration, to be labeled a "mango lover" as my identifier when interviewed. I also wouldn't mind being in the negotiating room when the US "talks mango with Pakistan."

U.S. Ban Creates Mango Black Market

By Max Fisher | August 02, 2010 3:04pm

Pakistan is the world's fifth largest producer of mangoes, growing 1.7 million tons of the fruit every year. And the only way Americans can get access to those mangoes is by purchasing them in Canada, which some people actually do, so delicious is the Pakistan mango reputed to be. CNN has dubbed this "the forbidden mango," interviewing trans-border buyers of the illicit fruit. They show the process of buying and transporting mangoes across the border, a cash-heavy process eerily similar to buying drugs.

But this burgeoning underground market may soon be ending. The Asia Society's Rafaya Sufi writes, "The US recently signaled that it was ready to talk mango with Pakistan in an attempt to ease relations between the two countries—and during her visit to Islamabad last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the country's mangoes could hit US retailers as soon as this winter."

Farmerettes?

Farmerettes? - An Ag-related history lesson

Image from the Smithsonian Institute

During WWI, from 1917-1919, women’s organizations, such as YWCA, established the Woman’s Land Army of America in order to support the war effort. The Woman’s Land Army, based on a similar British war effort by the “Land Lassies,” recruited about 20,000 women to take over farm jobs from men who had left for war. The women who worked on farms were called “farmerettes.”

An article for Smithsonian describes some of the women who worked in California to produce fruits like peaches and grapes.  

“While California fruit growers held lucrative contracts with the U.S. military to supply troops with dried and canned fruit, the extreme wartime farm labor shortage enabled the California Woman’s Land Army to demand extraordinary employment terms: a guaranteed contract, equal pay to what local male farm laborers could command, an eight hour day, and overtime pay. The employers also agreed to worker protections--comfortable living quarters, designated rest periods, lifting limits, and workers’ compensation insurance—considered radical for the time.”

Top Crops

Although there are an estimated 50,000 edible plant species in the world, a mere fifteen crops provide 90% of the world’s energy intake. Rice, wheat and maize (corn) alone provide about 50% of global energy intake (source). Rounding out the top ten food crops (by annual production in tons) are potatoes, cassava, soybeans, sweet potatoes, sorghum, yams, and plantains. Other important food crops key to caloric intake include sugar and oil crops such as palm, rapeseed/canola, and mustard (based on FAOSTAT food supply data).

In the spirit of New Year’s, I thought I’d share part of a NYTimes article that mentions foods that different cultures associate with New Year’s celebrations.

“AT year’s end, people around the world indulge in food rituals to ensure good luck in the days ahead. In Spain, grapes eaten as the clock turns midnight — one for each chime — foretell whether the year will be sweet or sour. In Austria, the New Year’s table is decorated with marzipan pigs to celebrate wealth, progress and prosperity. Germans savor carp and place a few fish scales in their wallets for luck. And for African-Americans and in the Southern United States, it’s all about black-eyed peas.”