Cultural Diversity, Culinary Tourism at Mango Fest 2023
In tonight’s episode of Kolcha Tuesday, we feature the Hopkins Mango Street Festival that was held over the weekend. Thousands of persons converged at the village to indulge in culture, music and, of course, the tropical fruit mango, which is currently in season. It is quickly becoming a staple on the list of festivals that attract domestic and international tourists alike. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Every year around this time, mangoes become the fruit of choice for most Belizeans. In fact, some would tell you the best, sweetest mangoes grow dah village. But whether you like to eat a succulent mango, cut up with salt and pepper or tajin or even in a chutney or glaze, the tropical fruit is enjoyed across cultural lines. Green, ripe or just in between, mango took center stage at the first ever Mango Street Festival this weekend. But are there really nineteen varieties of mangoes in Belize?
Ian Lizarraga
Ian Lizarraga, President, B.T.I.A. Hopkins
“I wanted it to become a street festival so that all the community felt like they were a part of it. I think this thing has the potential to become one of the biggest festivals in Belize. So I am very excited to be here today, I am looking forward to you folks coming out and looking forward to Hopkins becoming really the tourism leader.”
The mango festival is resurging since 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so much so that participating entities increased from twenty to over seventy. It featured vendors and entrepreneurs from neighbouring villages as well. We couldn’t sample all, but got a wide variety of mango inspired treats.
Carlene Rodriguez
Carlene Rodriguez, Sisters’ Stall
“We usually do our business from home. We sell panades, jalapenos, meat pies, everything. We wanted to do so many things with mango but for today, we have only the panades with the mango sauce. If you go by Inis, my mom made mango cake and mango fudge that you can go and try out.”
Terence Rhaburn
Terence Rhaburn, Marketing Manager, Running W Meats
“Everything mango, but make we talk Running W. We got big bone, or we had big bone because at this point, we done deplete half ah we stock. We got special ribs with a special unforgettable mango sauce. Now, Kenton just make this thing out here fresh. He neva make this last night or the day before; he make it out here this morning fresh. Purely Belizean, purely Hopkins – drip it on the ribs – Jesus.”
With the sweltering days, there were options for you to cool off, including mango inspired drinks – alcoholic and non-alcoholic.
Benedict Zuniga
Benedict Zuniga, Mixologist, Beaches & Dreams
“The cocktails that we are serving, we start with the juices. So we have mango and lemon grass. We have mango and ginger juice; we have mango tango which is a fresh mango juice and coconut rum frozen. Mango margarita – we all know what margaritas carry. So then we have mangos mojitos frozen. So we normally get mojitos on the rocks, but we’re doing everything frozen out here today.”
Ashton Moro
Ashton Moro, Mixologist
“I want dehn feel the real flavour, fresh. So anything you could around weh dehn mix drinks around the world, I wah make it out of mango. Mango michelada, mango mojito, margarita, anything – frozen, rocks – anything yo want. All ah that, I could do right here on this simple lee bar right yah.”
Ella’s Cool Spot provided that traditional Garifuna dish with a mango hudut.
Ella Carr
Ella Carr, Owner, Ella’s Cool Spot
“We have all these nice foods – hudut, wings in mango sauce, mango hudut, barbecue chicken, pork chops all with mango sauce. So everything mango. As you could see, fi we booth well decorated with mango; the theme yellow because it’s mango. We use the apple mango because of the taste; it blend in good with the food. So we infuse that mango into our homemade seasoning, so our jerk sauce and also our curry. So we infuse that mango, so we don’t add any mangoes in our food, so the apple mango is the best mango.”
…and who doesn’t like ice cream. Nice Cream had a variety of mango-flavored ice creams.
Marissa Lewis
Marissa Lewis, Co-Owner, Nice Cream
“With the mango, I pureed the mango of course. There is no artificial flavour; it is just the thickness of the mango and then I mix it up with my ingredients and at the end I churn the mango pieces into the ice cream.”
Duane Moody
“You have different flavours. Let’s talk about it.”
Marissa Lewis
“A lotta people right now are coming for the mango tequila because it is the Jose Cuervo-infused a little bit. And then they are also asking for the mango cheesecake because they know that with our cheesecake, we make our homemade waffle crust and then we crumble that into our mango ice cream as well.”
Duane Moody
“There are six different mango flavours?”
Marissa Lewis
“I couldn’t keep up. After the show I came and I couldn’t add more. I tried, so I have three flavours out there.”
But back to the trivia: how many varieties of mangoes do you know about? No one came close to the nineteen.
Benedict Zuniga
“I know about thunder shaw, I know about hairy mango, I know about blue mango; I know about common mango. This is what we use at work and we are using it out here as well and it’s called hazel mangos. This is the only one that we use because it grows at my work.”
Ella Carr
“We have the number eleven, which is common here in Hopkins. We have common mango, we have blue mango, we have apple mango, slippers mango. We have black mango, judgedrick, thunder shaw, honey mango.”
Ronnie Kyle Molina
Ronnie Kyle Molina, Resident
“I grow up da Griga so I know a good handful amount of them. I know about judgedrig, I know about thunder shaw, I know about slippers mango, I know about hairy mango, I know about number eleven, I know about blue mango, I know about belly full mango. I know about caimito. Alright I stuck right there; I list nine of them.”
Carlene Rodriguez
“Growing up, every mango season, everybody starts climbing trees, eating mangoes, taking mangoes to school for snack. We don’t usually buy ideal or chips; we usually eat the things that are in season. So mango is a part of our culture.”
Cultural diversity, culinary tourism and economic benefits – Mango Fest 2023 a success. Duane Moody for News Five.
