NEW YORK, U.S., May 5, 2007: The arrival of Indian mangoes in the US has generated a wave of excitement and nostalgia among the Indian American community. The South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) website has already received many postings from the community reflecting their craving to taste the long-deprived fruit. “I’m thrilled. It’s been one of the things I miss most from India. The Alphonso is just delicious, the best in the world. Americans have been deprived of this delicacy for too long,” Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International who grew up in Mumbai, told SAJA.
The US received its first consignment of Indian mangoes after 18 years early this week. At a mango festival hosted at the US-India business council headquarters Tuesday, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns each received the first gift baskets of ripe Indian mangoes from India’s ambassador Ronen Sen. The US had banned the import of Indian mangoes in 1989 over problems with pests such as fruit flies and weevils.