Doggy Bag: Today's Odds and Ends

You can't have da mango: On NPR's Morning Edition, local writer Sandip Roy waxes eloquent about Indian mangoes -- a Bush-era nukes agreement with India freed them up for import. One variety is the Alphonso, known in India as the King of Mangoes. Roy presents a specimen to Orson owner Elizabeth Falkner. She gushes, which only makes Roy homesick for Calcutta. The taste of mango was a price of immigration. It was our symbol of loss, and all the sweeter for it. Nice.

Gag reflex: What food grosses out even Chris Cosentino, whose home page shows his hands essentially festooned with animal guts? Balut, the embryonic egg loved by Filipinos. In an interview with Food Gal, Poleng Lounge chef Tim Luym says he thinks he could get Cosentino to stomach one. Having downed balut ourselves -- without even the mercy of a beer to wash the slippery thing down our gullet -- we can testify that anything is possible.