ST. CROIX — If it’s mango season in St. Croix, then Mango Melee, the annual mango eating event held at the Botanical Gardens in Estate St. Georges, is around the bend.
This year, the highly anticipated event — celebrating 21 years — will be held on July 9, according to Botanical Gardens. The all-day affair includes food craft and vendors, music and other entertainment, the Mango Dis, Mango Dat contest, a dunk tank, educational opportunities, and of course, the mango eating competition.
Approximately one year ago, a video posted on The Consortium’s Facebook page showing the adult mango eating competition has garnered over 339,000 views — one of The Consortium’s most popular video thus far (it’s most popular being that of Kevin Williams Jr. performing Pressure Busspipe’s Virgin Islands Nice with about 344,000 views, and seen by over 1,471,842 people) — with as many as 686,026 people having seen the post as of today.
Viewers hail from all over the Caribbean and the world, including Jamaica, Trinidad and Antigua, among others, as well as people in Europe and even Japan — putting the territory, in a rather cool light, on the global map.
“What a lovely competition. The mangoes look sweet too,” said Lynessa Williams from Grenada.
“The quality of mangoes I have had in the states, if I was in that contest I would be banned next time. I would eat from my bowl and my neighbors’ bowls,” said Francesca Jennifer Louis, who is from the territory but lives in North Carolina.
The video has racked up nearly 600 comments. It has over 5,500 shares and well past 1,500 likes.
“Now that’s [an] eating contest I would love to try!” said Jim Robertson, a manager at Petco from Las Vegas, Nevada.
The mango eating competition traditionally takes place at 5:00 p.m., and serves as the last attraction and main event of the annual affair. It includes two competitions, one for children and a more challenging contest for adults. Adult participants can only eat the mangoes — ten oversize fruits — with one hand, and must eat the mangoes clean; not a halfhearted effort that leaves all the fruit on the seed.
The competition is as difficult as it appears, and competitors have been said to give up midway, some requesting bags to throw up in.
This story’s feature image includes last year’s winner, Olubayo Aaza. Watch the video below.
Tags: mango melee, us virgin islands
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