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The Hindu
16-06-2025
- The Hindu
Mango's Culinary Journey and Roots Explored in New Book
Not many know that the origin of the mango lies in northeast India, or that grinding stones and pottery dating from 1500 BC and belonging to the Harappans revealed traces of the fruit. If you would like to deep dive into the history of the king of fruits, Mango: A Global History by sisters Constance L Kirker and Mary Newman is a great starting point. Launched as a part of the Edible series (published by Pan Macmillan), the book traces the fruit's history, its cultural significance in India with references in Hindu epics and Ghalib's poetry, and also delves into the geopolitics of mango cultivation, consumption, and current sustainability efforts. The duo says that it was during the research for Edible Flowers: A Global History (2016), that they visited markets in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. 'Connie lived for a while in Singapore and travelled frequently throughout Asia. Based on what we learned on our travels,mango seemed a natural progression for the series,' says Mary, a writer and culinary researcher.. While there were no mangoes in Ohio, where the sisters grew up, their travels in the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Cambodia also contributed research for the book. 'In addition to academic research, our favourite sources of information came from our travel experiences and getting stories from the people we met, taking cooking classes all over the world, attending food festivals, visiting farms, processing plants, and eating!' says writer and culinary historian, Constance. The book, they say, 'explores the properties of mangoes through the lens of the five senses'. Constance explains that while taste is important for enjoying a mango, the other senses play a major role as well, 'including the sight of their beautiful colours, and the smell of a fully ripe mango'. 'There is a component of texture to mangoes as the juices and fibers stimulate those senses. Even the sound of someone sucking on a mango pit evokes the senses,' she says, 'A really good mango should be messy, a full body experience employing all the senses; sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. It is said that you should really eat a mango while naked in a bathtub.' Something Queen Victoria certainly would not approve. The book highlights how the queen, 'a great champion of etiquette and elaborate table manners' expanded the use of cutlery worldwide and a mango fork was designed during the Victorian period. Mango also has references of how the British did not 'savour the sight of Indians squatting on the floor and sucking on mangoes, with the juice flowing down their elbows. They often referred to it as the 'bathroom fruit', and instructed their Indian servants to confine the mess of mango eating to the bathroom.' Elizabeth II, on the other hand, relished the fruit. According to her former chef John Higgins, she 'really enjoyed mangoes, and could tell you how many mangoes were in the fridge at Buckingham Palace', states the book. Of all the facts and interesting finds that the duo discovered during their research, they were most surprised by the 'almost fanatical, universal, and personal attachment that people in countries where the fruit flourishes have for their variety of mangoes'. 'People don't just 'like' their mangoes, they 'love' their mangoes with a devotion unmatched by any other fruit in the US or Europe,' says Mary. Constance believes mangoes are 'sexy'. 'Fittingly, they are the only fruit with a position named after them in the famed love manual, the Kama Sutra,' she adds. The authors also discovered over 50 works of fiction with mango in their titles, and over 20 culinary memoirs and cookbooks, and several children's books with titles of the fruit. Food references aside, the book also looks at the fruit's religious and cultural connotations. For instance, there are many examples of the fruit and the mango tree in the teachings of Buddhism, and how the Buddha has a rounded chin shaped like a mango stone. The traditional South Indian gold bridal necklace, called a 'mango mala', is adorned with mango-shaped stones, representing the wish for a fertile marriage. The well-curated recipe section in the book features a mango menu with mango wine/lassi/tea; starters such as raw mango rasam, aamras; mains like aamchur chicken, Haitian mango chicken; sides like the Vietnamese green mango salad; and desserts including mango float, mango barfi, and more. 'Since our book is a global history, the mango recipes were all taken from historical sources from around the world,' says Constance. The recipe for mango curry, for instance, is taken from food writer Soity Banerjee's conjecture of what a 2000-year-old curry may have been like. 'I experimented with some mango recipes. I took the recipe for aam papad, and substituted American mango babyfood for the pulp and seasoned it with tajin (a Mexican spice blend of chiles, lime and salt) making an accessible, intercultural variation,' says Mary. For the mango chutney, Constance adapted it from a 1930 recipe from Fairchild Botanical Gardens, a mango research centre in Florida. Mango: A Global History is priced at ₹599 and is available on
South Wales Argus
07-05-2025
- General
- South Wales Argus
Monmouthshire County Hall swift tower cost confirmed
The steel pole is fitted with bird boxes for up to 12 pairs of swifts and speakers to play the 'call of the swift' at key times just after dawn and dusk to attract the birds to use the nesting spaces in the grounds of Monmouthshire County Council's headquarters in Usk. The 'Swift Tower' is also intended to be a 'prominent piece of art' to highlight the 'iconic, declining urban bird, and to inspire individuals to take action to help swifts and other urban nature' and highlight how the council is is supporting nature recovery across the county. The cost of the tower as well as design costs and planning permission was covered by funding from the UK Government's Shared Prosperity Fund which awarded funding for the Gwent Green Grid project in 2024/25. Monmouthshire County Council said the cost for the tower was £18,500 though that figure doesn't include VAT. Councillor Catrin Maby, the council's Labour cabinet member for the environment, said: 'This swift tower is an excellent way to ensure that we continue to see breeding pairs at County Hall for many years to come. 'Hopefully it can prove to be a small step towards the recovery of swift populations in the near future.' Monmouthshire County Council hopes to support further swift project work through Welsh Government Local Places for Nature funding during 2025 to 2027. The tower is in the 'Incredible Edible' community garden area, which is open to the public, within the grounds of Monmouthshire County Council's headquarters at The Rhadyr also known as County Hall. The site has been selected as the best option for Usk, as it will be noticeable to swifts passing as they feed along the river Usk. Swifts had been using J Block at County Hall, before an adjoining walkway was built in 2018. They nest almost exclusively in buildings, making use of holes to raise their young, but are losing nesting sites with old buildings being renovated to improve insulation or demolished. Swifts pair for life, returning to the same nest site each year but have recently been put on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern as populations across the UK have declined by 58 per cent since 1995, and 75 per cent in Wales. Monmouthshire County Council's planning department, which had to approve the structure, had caused confusion over the source of funding as it stated it was from the Welsh Government.
