Mexican street food is probably the most popular food inside and outside the country. In the U.S. most people associate Mexican food with this popular and somehow unhealthy food. But Mexican street food is not complete without the delicious fruit sold along their less healthy counterparts. Yes, our street food is not the healthiest, but I am sure the mass consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables in carts, street booths and markets balances things out (or at least that’s what I want to believe).
Jon always likes to point out that Mexicans love chile in all their food, even on fruit, because he was very impressed when he witnessed people on the street eating mangoes, watermelon, jicama and other fruits and salads sprinkled with chili powder, salt and lime. I agree it is a weird custom if you are not familiar with it. But once you try it, I am sure you are going to like it.
Like I’ve mentioned many times before, my favorite fruit ever is Manila mangoes. Those little guys are so sweet and meaty that my family (mostly my mom and I) used to eat about 40 pounds a week every summer. No, I am not making this up. My dad would buy a big case of them at the market when he was shopping for the restaurant. After lunch, my mom and I would sit in front of the TV with a big bowl of mangoes, an empty bowl for the discarded peels and seeds and indulge until we couldn’t move. It was a little bit of an excess, but we never regretted it, at least it was the good kind of sweets.
Things have changed and even though I still love mangoes, I don’t eat them as much as I would like. Here in Ohio is very hard to find Manila mangoes and the stores that carry them sell them for exorbitant prices. But when I find them at a reasonable price I like to enjoy them like I did in my childhood. I sit in front of them and talk to them. They look back and say: “Eat us, we are very sweet and tasty and you can’t resist us”. That’s exactly what they were saying when I was taking their pictures today. I couldn’t get the shot I was looking for (for some reason these shots don’t look right to me), but at the end their wishes were fulfilled. They died making me happy.
¡Buen provecho!
24 Replies
Looks like your mango shots turned out great. I love the lime one!!
Posted on July 31st, 2009 at 12:35 pm
The one with lime is the BEST! Perfect!
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Posted on July 31st, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Those are pretty mangos! We’re lucky to get a couple of varieties of mangos here in Austin. I’ve actually never tried it with chili powder, but now I want to.
Posted on July 31st, 2009 at 3:52 pm
I love the look of the first page. You amaze me more and more with your pictures. Such an inspiration.
Posted on July 31st, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Mangoes are delicious and I totally agree with you there. In Thailand, they eat fruit in a similar fashion from the many street stalls. They sometimes add sugar too to round up the whole taste sensation! I love the squeezed lime shot Ben! Beautiful!
Posted on July 31st, 2009 at 7:24 pm
So beautiful! I love it!
Posted on July 31st, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Oh… my. That’s beautiful!
Posted on July 31st, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Hey Ben, this is what I loved about living in Russia, too. Where I lived there would be similar snack foods at the farmers market – they were just lovely. Your photos made my mouth water.
Posted on July 31st, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Beautiful pictures of delicious mangoes! I hope to find Manila mangoes soon, would love to try them!
Posted on July 31st, 2009 at 10:02 pm
I so agree with you. There’s nothing quite as sweet as Asian mangoes (especially if you can be there during the season to eat them!)
And yes, we do eat them sprinkled with chilli powder and salt, especially the unripe sour ones. And the best part, as children, was to suck the sweet juice and pulp straight off the mango. Very messy but heavenly.
Your pictures do look good, especially the second one. I’ve never seen mangoes cut this way, like pine cones.
Since you’re unhappy with them, maybe you could try a different composition with the first one, and maybe a little less chilli powder on the mango in the second one – you know, show a contarst btw orange and red? I’m not an expert and these are just my suggestions.
Posted on July 31st, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Haha, I love that line: “They died making me happy.” =D
Ah, in the Philippines, lots of fruits are enjoyed with salt. Makes them sweeter!
Posted on August 1st, 2009 at 12:42 am
I can see chili & lime being really good on fruit. My mom is currently addicted to the dried mango with cili & chocolate from Trader Joe’s
Posted on August 1st, 2009 at 9:18 am
I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten Manila mangoes but mango is my favorite fruit. I often grind black pepper on a dessert that has honey or some kind of cream so I definitely get the chile. Ben, I’m so impressed with the great work you are doing behind the lens!!! That photo with lime being squeezed is just outstanding. Have you submitted that photo to the recent bi-color Clique challenge? I hope it’s not too late.
Posted on August 1st, 2009 at 9:32 am
This looks delish. What kid could resist! This week I did sangria for recipe sharing. I hope you’ll stop by my site and share this tasty post:
http://momtrends.blogspot.com/2009/07/fridays-feasts-white-sangria.html
Posted on August 1st, 2009 at 7:40 pm
The pics look fine to me dude. That juice shot is crazy
I love mangoes too, and they are also something I share with my mother. It’s tough to be a nice ripe, sweet one.
Posted on August 2nd, 2009 at 7:14 am
I love that juice shot Ben. Fantastic how you managed to get just that one drop going down!! Love it!!
Posted on August 2nd, 2009 at 10:22 am
I remember when I went for the first time to Mexico and saw the magoes with chile sauce. We ordered them sans chile because we just couldn’t fathom, coming from the Caribbean myself, to eat a mango with something spicy. The people there claimed that mangoes tasted like nothing without teh sauce… I just could not disagree more.
Posted on August 2nd, 2009 at 11:31 am
I love mangoes but have never had it like this! I don’t eat mangoes as much as I used to as the ones sold here are so fibrous.
Posted on August 2nd, 2009 at 12:06 pm
I think all your pictures are amazing…I need some lessons!
Posted on August 2nd, 2009 at 11:20 pm
I never fried mango, but , looks so tempting and delicious.Nice idea for a light and unique dessert
Posted on August 3rd, 2009 at 6:14 am
Beautiful photos! Good thing I have a mango in my lunch today. Yummy.
Posted on August 3rd, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Ben, the picture is gorgeous. I love the way you captured the drop of lime juice going down on that beautiful piece of mango. You are so darn clever chico. Tell Jon that I too wll always sprinkle a little sea salt and chile powder on my fruit. It’s absolutely yummy that way. Yes the fruit is the healthier of treats offered by street vendors, but that won’t keep my from munching on a churro now and then. As a matter of fact, I just found a recipe for chocolate churros. I’ll be trying that soon. Hasta luego querido.
Posted on August 3rd, 2009 at 9:58 pm
One of the benefits of living in deep south Texas is the year round availability of produce — it’s not unusual to find mangoes for sale on the street corner for pennies a piece. We’re very fortunate.
I’m with you on Mexican street food. ¡Delicioso! There’s an ‘indoor’ restaurant that many folks from the US side of the border eat at when they cross the border for lunch or supper. However, we prefer the food stands under blue tarp tents that dot it’s side street where one of our favorite abuelitas cooks for us.
Posted on August 4th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Interesting post! A large part of my childhood was spent in Durban, South Africa (home to the largest population of Indians outside of India) and a lot of the street vendors used to sell pineapple sprinkled with chilli powder on a stick. So it seems like the Mexicans and Indians have something in common there.
Posted on August 24th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
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