Last week, I opened up about my deep-seeded lasagna biases. I was really just trying to make conversation with you. Though I’ve come to love lasagna, even years ago if you had put a gun to my head, I would have happily had a slice. Melon on the other hand, I might suffer a few bites of. But I wouldn’t be happy about it.
It’s not that culturally acceptable these days to be a picky eater and a foodie. Usually the two are mutually exclusive. I’ve mostly managed to escape the wrath of my fellow bloggers and dinner dates by keeping my food phobias partially under wraps. But if there’s any place to come clean about my cravings, it’s here. The truth is, my pickiness falls into one specific category. And by category, I mean an entire food group.
Fruit. I’ve asked my parents time and time again if there was some sort of strange man that tried to touch me in the melon aisle as a child. But nothing seems to explain my wholehearted phobia.
Over the years, I’ve come to embrace certain fruits. But when people ask me which ones I don’t like, it’s still more time-efficient to list off the ones that I’ll actually eat. So let me do that for you: apples, bananas, pears, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and mango. It’s not a very impressive list.
Last Sunday, my friend Ryan came over for Game of Thrones night and brought with him a whole watermelon. Let’s just say I was not happy about it. He was forced to do the carving, and then take home with him all remnants of the fruit.
Watermelon is one of the few varieties that I’ve actually tried and officially ruled out. The others, I’ve been paralyzed by fear to even touch. It’s a texture issue mainly. So I’ve had many fruits in the form of juices and smoothies. And a few of them in pie form. Though clearly I’d rather have a slice of chocolate cake over any fruity dessert.
Why am I telling you all this now?
Well a few weeks ago I was given a Memorial Day grilling assignment from Learnvest. They asked for unusual BBQ dishes, and specifically asked for some sort of fruit skewer. I immediately tried to talk them out of it. But after some brief thought, it occurred to me that my old friend the mango would be the ideal candidate for such a dish.
Given all of the above, I hope you know that it takes a very special fruit dish for me to celebrate the recipe here, and want to eat it in the first place. I always try to choose my mangoes on the under-ripe side so that they’re extra firm and tangy. Even if you do this, the grill has a remarkable effect on the fruit, bringing out its sweetness, while infusing the flesh with a smokiness that just reads summer. A little bit of lime juice makes the whole thing bright and punchy – a perfect savory side dish or semi-sweet dessert. If I hadn’t already conquered this area of my fruit phobia, these mango skewers just might have done the trick.
Are there any foods you wield strong phobias of and/or are embarrassed to be picky about? Let me know in the comments!
Happy almost summer!
Xo
Phoebe
Grilled Mango Skewers with Lime
Ingredients
- 2 large mangoes
- 1 lime cut into wedges
- ¼ cup cilantro leaves
- Sixteen 8-inch skewers
Instructions
- Slice off the top and bottom of the mangoes. Stand them on one of the newly cut flat sides and peel off the skin with your chef’s knife, rotating the mango clockwise. Slice the mango into thin planks. You should get 4-5 per mango.
- Heat a charcoal grill or indoor grill pan over a high heat.
- Thread the mango slices onto a pair of bamboo skewers. Grill the mango, about 3 minutes per side, rotating 90 degrees halfway through to get a great cross-hatch. Remove to a platter and drizzle with one of the lime wedges. Garnish with cilantro and serve alongside the remaining lime wedges.
Nutrition
If you make this, tag @phoebelapine and #feedmephoebe - I'd love to see it!
Oh girl. I hate bananas. I hate them so much i lie to people and tell them that I’m allergic to them. I hate them so much that I actually had someone offer me $500 to peel and eat one and I turned them down. (Although, truth be told, I don’t think they actually had the money or a banana with them at the bar when they made this offer.) Hate the smell, I THINK I’d hate the texture, hate how cavalier people are with the peel (“oh, yeah, I’ll just stick it here, in the back of the seat in front of me on the plane!” … UM NO YOu SHOULD NOT. IT IS GARBAGE.)
Do not be ashamed of your fruit hate. Embrace it.
This made me laugh out loud! I totally get the banana thing, even though it’s one of the few fruits that I like. There’s really nothing else that has a peel or texture like it. Now, if we’re really drilling down on my phobia. Your banana equivalent in my book is oranges. I used to have to leave the room whenever someone was eating them. And, i mean, to the extent that I would have to leave a cafeteria if someone on the other side of it peeling one. Needless to say, I’ve had to get over this one in order to have a normal social life. but ICK! Thank you for sharing 🙂 xxx
Yum! I want to try this tonight as I just so happen to have all of the ingredients!
awesome!! let me know how it goes 🙂
Feta makes me want to throw up. Except it already smells like vomit.
I hear that one too.
These look so good! They might even motivate me to clean our grill so as to not have meat-flavored mango–that sounds a food phobia of my own making! Have you ever tried Tajin seasoning? It is basically chili, salt and dried lime juice–my mexican friends put it on all of their fruit/crudite in addition to fresh lime juice. It is really yummy!
I’ve never heard of this magical powder! Where can I buy it? Sounds heavenly, and perfect for this mango. Save me a bottle for the next time I see you, which I hope will be very very soon! xoxox
I LOVE your article as I too have a tiny list of fruits that I will consume….and melon is NOT on that list. Having said that, I do try a variety of melons every year, just to see if there is one that I might like. Needless to say that friends and family are the very grateful recipients of these attempts.
And i could’t agree more with Bethany. Bananas are EVIL. Why do they smell like that? Why does it linger? And what makes you think that peel laying around, turning brown, stinking up my world is appealing? Yuck to the infinity factory.
Fruit phobic foodies unite!