Island Eats: Mango Smoothies

Travel Blog  •  Pam Mandel  •  03.26.09 | 1:52 PM ET

I’m an extremely addicted coffee drinker, but I have a guilty confession to make: I didn’t find the coffee in Hawaii all that great. That’s why, given the choice between a less-than-satisfying cup of joe and a big orange slurp of calorie-laden deep orange-yellow lusciousness, I went with the mango smoothie every time. I’m sure mangoes are full of things that are way better for me than caffeine salvation, but that’s not why I made the switch during my island time. Nope, it’s because mango smoothies are seductively, amazingly delicious. And at least as revitalizing as a poor-to-middling cup of coffee.

My favorite was, hands down, the one from that guy in the Maunakea Marketplace Food Court in Honolulu’s Chinatown. That fruit stand on the way back from Hana, its weren’t bad either, though I was sure one of those stoner kids was going to lose a finger at best, an entire limb at worst, swinging that machete around while high as a kite on one of Maui’s other abundant crops. I skipped the bicycle-powered blender, also on the Hana Highway because I was having an uncharacteristically un-Hawaiian moment of impatience. But I swerved to a halt at the first fruit stand on the way towards Volcano on the road from Kaleakakua Bay. “Large, please. Mango. Mahalo.”

There are about a million different mango smoothie recipes but they all involve throwing the fruit of one or two nice, ripe mangoes into a blender with some sort of liquid—coconut milk or juice of some variety—a couple of ice cubes, and, if you’re so inclined, additional tropical fruit of your liking, be it pineapple, banana, guava, papaya or lots more mango. Run the blender—or pedal like a maniac if it’s some Gilligan’s Island blender-bicycle hybrid contraption—until everything is good and liquefied. I strongly recommend pouring the smoothie into a glass and then finding a shady spot with a view of the blue ocean through some swaying palms. Drink deep, and be happy.

Tags: Food, North America, United States, Hawaii, Honolulu, Maui, Oahu, The Big Island, Shrinking Planet

Pam Mandel is a freelance writer and photographer from Seattle, Washington. Her work has appeared in a variety of print, radio, and web publications and she's contributed to two guidebooks, one on British Columbia and one on Hawaii. She plays the ukulele, has an internal beacon that is surprisingly capable of locating the best baked goods in town, almost any town, and speaks German with a Styrian accent. Learn more on her personal blog at Nerd's Eye View.


1 Comment for Island Eats: Mango Smoothies

Surf School Waikiki 03.29.09 | 11:18 PM ET

I understand:) That’s because Hawaiians are fruit lovers and can survive without coffee for as long as fruit beverages are bountiful.

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