Last week, there was an auction of the first box of mangoes of the season to raise money for the Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney. Mangoes have always been one of my all time childhood favourite foods, the thought of which was always enough to induce a Homer Simpson salivating moment. Growing up, my mother used to regularly buy boxes of 20 mangoes throughout the entire duration of the mango season which lasts for some four to five months. The mangoes then had to be evenly divvied out in my household to ensure that no one would overeat into someone else’s share.

I never tired of them, often eating three or four mangoes a day. Unlike the mangoes typically available for purchase in the UK, they are not the firm varieties, but soft. They are also a little meaty in texture and extremely sweet and succulently juicy. So much so, there is simply no ladylike way of eating them. I always found I had to eat mangoes hidden away in a corner for the embarrassingly messy havoc they would wreak over my mouth and hands. I always eat mangos like so, sliced twice through on either side of the stone. I then cut the two outside pieces in a criss-crossed fashion and opened it up almost inside out like a hedgehog for eating.

Summer mango

Mangoes were a huge part of my Australian summer, as were watermelons, another one of my childhood favourites. On a steamy, hot, humid summer’s day, there was nothing I liked better than cutting watermelon into bite-sized pieces and putting them in the freezer for about 45 minutes till they were freezing cold before eating. Nothing ever seemed to taste better than biting into icy cold watermelon to help cool down on a really hot day. Oh the joys of an Australian summer…

What is it about Korean BBQ that always draws in the crowds? There is something about sizzling meat on the table in front of you that is so mouth-wateringly appealing. Korean BBQ is perhaps the most well known aspect of Korean cuisine, but travelling through South Korea a few years back opened my eyes to how expansive Korean food actually is, and it is not limited to barbequing meat. There is incredible variety, all tasty, and generally spicy with an abundance of garlic, ginger and red chilli paste. It’s also filled with lots of vegetables, so also extremely healthy. I loved my trip to South Korea, and for the most part it was due to the discovery of my love for Korean food. It’s interesting how memories of a holiday are often largely shaped and influenced by one’s memories of how much one may have enjoyed the food.

A fairly recent addition to the Sydney dining scene is the Korean restaurant, Live. Focusing mainly on barbeque, it also serves a range of different cooked Korean dishes. My favourite Korean dish is bibimbap, a dish with a rice base; it is topped with minced beef, finely chopped sautéed and seasoned vegetables, and a fried egg. When brought to the table, all the ingredients are then mixed through the rice. The rice is also flavoured with sesame oil which makes the dish quite fragrant. Wowed by the taste of bibimbap the first time I tried it in Seoul, I’ve never been able to resist ordering it at a Korean restaurant since.

Bibimbap

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