Pineapples, minnows, and litchis

In the US, many people don’t know in which month asparagus ripens, or when avocados are at their best. And I can’t blame them, since the little “Grown in Mexico” tag has very small writing. Here in Madagascar, that isn’t quite the same. In a nice juxtaposition of how it is in the US, local organic seasonal fruits and vegetables are delicious and cheap. Out of season, imported, tasteless produce is pricey. The logical choice? Save money and eat fresh food!

Pineapples a month ago were about 1500ar and not quite sweet; this month they are 500ar and incredibly sweet. Mangos, on the other hand, were 200ar and delicious two months ago and now are 500ar, stringy, and bland. Green peas cannot be found, unless dried. Cassava leaves are past their tender delicious stage and into a bit of a tougher phase as summer reaches it’s highest point.

Even the minnows my village is famous for have a season, and thankfully it is not now. During this part of the year, it is taboo to fish for them (fishing is a big term for scooping them out of creeks with mosquito nets-turned-fishnets). This is the Malagasy alternative to the department of fish and wildlife, and keeps the populations stable by making it taboo to collect them during their reproductive time.

Rice also has a season, and right now is not it. We are in the hungry season, when last year’s crop is running out and this year’s harvest is still not mature. That means that more and more cassava is eaten, and portions are smaller, although still three times as much as any American would eat. The kilo has gone from 900ar to 1400ar and will still rise, which is big for the price of THE staple food. It would be like anything made from/with pasta, bread, potatoes, corn, rice, and all types of flour fluctuating by 50+% at the same time.

This seasonality has implications in the nutrition of the nation, but more noticeably to me in the culture. Even when I’m with my non-farmer friends here, the available foods are often a topic of conversation, and none more than litchis. Litchi season around here is late November through early January, and come early October the talk of the town is when people estimate litchis will first arrive. This takes about a month, and then once the coveted litchis arrive, comparisons are constantly made to the quality and quantity of this year’s crop compared to years past. Unfortunately in my two litchi seasons the comparisons have been quite negative; I have yet to experience a good year. Once the season ends, for another month I just hear about how expensive they were at the end of the season, and how much longer the season really should last. For a fruit with a relatively short season, they are on peoples’ minds for about 5 months of the year. That’s how delicious they are.