Happy early Earth Day!  Although two days early I wanted to be sure I didn’t forget.

In fact, I think we have been really celebrating Earth Day for the past 5 months, decreasing our energy consumption (we don’t really have a choice here!), water consumption, and food consumption…basically reducing our consumption…of everything (except for maybe rice and pirated DVDs…consumption on those has definitely gone up!).  We are living by the seasons which dictates so much of life here.

Seasons here are marked properly, in the agricultural tradition of seasonal cycles of fruits and vegetables.  It makes me laugh now to think how “novel” this idea has become at home.  We were full fledged participants of local and seasonal eating habits back in Vancouver and of course I knew it wasn’t a new idea.  Much of my childhood was spent in summer eating only food from the family garden and in winter devouring all that freshness through home canning and preserving.  However, when I returned to this idea as a young adult it was different – it was more glamorous to eat locally, more trendy to know a farmer, and more fancy-pants to consider your food miles before tucking in to a nice meal.

I had been fooled.  Local eating is one of the least fancy and least trendy habits of most of the world.  In Kathmandu, gardens pop up between apartments, appear from behind office buildings, or can be found hidden down the most unsuspecting alleyway.  In fact, I would bet that MOST of my fruits and vegetables come from within a 20 kilometer circumference.   And those that come from outside that distance come from our neighbouring country, India…eating locally is economically sustainable to most people here and provides the majority livelihood for the majority of Nepali citizens.  And the best part is that long-distance, imported options in the produce department simply are not available!  Here, eating locally is a real, humble, and humane act of necessity!

Tonight we are celebrating the fact that we have just moved through orange and lime season (from about November to February) and are moving into mango season!  But the best part is this is just phase one of at least a four-phase mango season.  Four distinct varieties will grace our plates this monsoon from now until about August and I look forward to trying them all – in lassis, curry, on yogurt, in muesli, slathered on toast, dipped in local coconut shreds, or drizzled with honey 🙂

So, our first crack at a cooked mango recipe was an adaptation of this delectable mango loaf.  Compliments to Rachelle S. who posted the recipe – I have shown my adapted version below for your perusal.  And I must admit that I hesitated to share it since I know that the majority of you DO NOT live in local mango growing areas…hmmm ethical dilemma.  So, I share it with you and trust that you will use it sparingly and in good conscience and wherever possible source your own local produce, not because it is trendy or cool, but because it is one of the nicest things you can do for the planet.

3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup oil
1 cup diced mango (about 2 medium mangos)

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease & flour loaf pan. In large bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in milk, eggs, and butter. Mix until flour is just incorporated. Do not over mix. Gently stir in mangos. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 40 minutes.

Makes 1 loaf.