For the Love of Mangoes
To be published in Impact.Edition Magazine’s next print issue in Winter 2025
Every summer, fleshy, sunset yellow-orange to jade-green mangoes dot residential trees in tropical abundance. But every season, roughly 40% of unpicked mangoes are estimated to go to waste. Last year, climate change added another challenge. The culprit, some say, was a combination of extreme heat and rainfall, followed by flooding. Could climate change have hit pause on our iconic fruit-filled paradise? In spite of it all, local businesses and residents alike are making the most of this bittersweet season through sustainable practices.
Zak Stern’s approach to hospitality has been anything but ordinary. From the kitchen of his Wynwood corner kosher bakery, emerged what is known as “The Mango Trade.” Every season, people can bring five local mangoes from their homes or neighborhoods in exchange for one loaf of freshly baked bread. In this “new currency,” Zak the Baker weaves seasonal fruit with community to create unexpected baked goods representative of Miami’s regional cuisine, like mango cheesecake, mango soda, and mango parfait.
“Creating the mango trade was an opportunity to get people to see what's valuable here, and to get people to participate in our currency around the conversation of what is our regional cuisine?” says Zak. “We've got things down here in the summertime that no one else has…It's an opportunity to celebrate and embrace.”
Exchanging fruit, recipes, and camaraderie, mangoes foster a sense of abundance and connection during our emptier summer months.
But the bins are rarely ever empty as waste is a problem across the restaurant industry. Last year Zak the Baker spent over $10,000 just on “overage” fines because their cans were always overflowing. As a result of the bakery’s elevated waste expenses from both food and cardboard, Zak has been focused on reducing the company’s waste by partnering with composting company, Compost for Life. With this switch to composting, Zak has reduced the bakery’s waste by 60%. In just two weeks, they’ve diverted more than 16,000 pounds of waste from landfills.
Zak projects that more than half a million pounds of waste will be diverted for the year. Fostering a circular food economy, this compost is then returned to the bakery as nutrient-dense soil, contributing to Zak’s next project, a garden to grow ingredients for the Bakery’s fresh products.
With a switch to composting, Zak has reduced the bakery’s waste by 60%. In just two weeks, they’ve diverted more than 16,000 pounds of waste from landfills.
Every season, roughly 40% of unpicked mangoes are estimated to go to waste. Green Tomato, a business connecting South Florida residents to farm-fresh produce, tackled this problem by partnering with Nicholas Spence, the 12-year-old behind SoFla Boy Mangoes, to sell otherwise wasted mangoes – a hands-on lesson in entrepreneurship, agriculture and food waste solutions.
“Nick is an entrepreneur and the son of one of our customers. Early in the season, they were interested in collaborating. Nick took the initiative to collect mangoes in his neighborhood that would otherwise be wasted; his neighbors were elated by this solution, and his community shared in the profits. We loved supporting this young entrepreneur, and our customers really enjoyed the mangoes, even in this shorter season,” says Vanessa Aflalo, founder of Green Tomato.
“There are hundreds of varieties of mangoes in Miami alone,” explained Rane Roatta, co-owner of Miami Fruit, a home-grown tropical fruit business and farm in Homestead.
There are more than 600 varieties of mango growing throughout South Florida, which means this is one of the largest genetic diversities of mangoes in the world, grown on a relatively small scale. Since David Fairchild introduced mangoes to South Florida in the late 19th and early 20th century, these sticky, sweet fruits have become an integral part of Miami’s sub-tropical urban fabric, adapting to our wet and warm climate akin to the fruits’ native climate in Asia. As Rane puts it, “If you don't have a mango tree in your house, then your neighbor does.”
A grower with over a decade of experience working with a network of local farmers, Rane has dealt with the uncertainties that come with climate change: “The heat and the drastic difference between our winter rains and our summer rains are actually making it a lot harder to grow mangoes here,” notes Rane, who keeps a positive and opportunistic view of what each season brings. Throughout the season, Miami Fruit sold Mango Variety boxes that can ship nationwide and change weekly, offering even those at a distance a taste of Miami’s unique flavors.
Miami Fruit rose out of a community’s desire for fruit. “The community asked me to sell fruit at farmer's markets. And then, the online community asked me to ship the fruit to them,” says Rane. Connecting people with fruit, and creating unique and delicious experiences continues to be an important part of Rane’s mission, yet the vision goes further. “One of our biggest goals is to try to keep some farmers in business in the long term – my generation and the generation after.”
A slow season never keeps Miamians from enjoying mangoes, as summer celebrations range from the annual King Mango Strut parade in Coconut Grove to weekend-long events relishing fruit biodiversity and cuisine. Miami-Dade County offers homeowners free trees through a special Adopt-a-Tree program. Since 2001, over 225,000 trees have been given away.
To many, coming home from a long, hot day to a fresh, dewey harvest is one of life’s most simple pleasures that is undeniably, uniquely Miamian.
