Mango lovers, be very jealous of Rondel Holder. Seriously, the travel expert and cultural storyteller teamed up with EBONY and took a trip to Flatbush, Brooklyn, a.k.a. “Little Caribbean,” to visit the legendary Labay Market. If you know, you know, but we won’t gatekeep, so here’s the deal: Labay Market is a small Grenadian-owned, Caribbean-centric market where you can pick up a variety of fruit, vegetables and other knick-knacks, but they’re especially known for having the best mangoes in NYC.
That’s a grand statement, but Rondel puts Big Mac, Labay’s owner, to the test. Labay Market is named after a famous market in Grenada’s countryside that sells fresh fruit and veggies. It started in Big Mac’s backyard, but the brick-and-mortar store has been in its current location since 2005.
Big Mac explains the different types of mangos they carry in the store, such as pineapple mangos, Ruby, Bombay, Imperial, Ceylon, Julie and many more. Big Mac also assures us that he grew up knowing mangos on his home island, and that you can blindfold him, and he’d be able to tell you what type of mango he’s tasting. He knows all of the notes and textures, and extends some of that knowledge to Rondel, who gets a taste of all the juicy goodness Labay has to offer…