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."