Last updated on July 25th, 2023
Photo of Baie de Margot, St. Martin, by Conovane Tremor
What if you could just sail away to the Caribbean?
By Carolyn Ray, Editor
This is one book I haven’t been able to put down. Not only is it calling me to the Caribbean, but it’s also a treasure trove of tasty new cultural and culinary experiences, from Chesapeake Bay crabcakes to Bahamian conch to Pina Colada Cheesecake. Using the recipes scattered throughout the book, I couldn’t resist making the fried plantains with nutmeg and rum for dinner! Delicious!
Ann Vanderhoof’s An Embarrassment of Mangoes — an account of a two-year midlife break during which she sailed from Canada to the Caribbean — was an Amazon Top Ten Book of the Year for Travel and a national bestseller in Canada. The book is described by Quill and Quire as “an odd mixture of a book – part travel journal, part culinary tour, part Cruising for Dummies (“cruising” is a term habitués use to describe life aboard a pleasure boat).” From August 1997 to August 1999, Ann and her husband, Steve, sailed from Toronto to the Caribbean and back on a 42-foot sailboat named Receta, Spanish for “recipe.”
Theirs was the dream trip of every armchair traveller who’s ever eyeballed a yacht and wondered, “What if?” As I think about my plan to travel full-time, this one definitely hit a nerve, although I don’t think I would have Ann’s patience for living on a sailboat for two years! Would you?
About the Author
Ann writes for magazines such as Gourmet, Islands, and More. When she’s not on her sailboat, Vanderhoof lives in Toronto. An Embarrassment of Mangoes — an account of a two-year midlife break during which she sailed from Canada to the Caribbean — was an Amazon Top Ten Book of the Year for Travel and a national bestseller in Canada.
Her second travel memoir, In The Spice Necklace: A Food-Lover’s Caribbean Adventure (2010), Ann shares the sensory delights of travelling by water and preparing local dishes along the way. The recipes she includes have been tested in her tiny galley kitchen aboard Receta — everything from Stewed Lambi (conch) to Cream of Callaloo Soup to Piña Colada Cheesecake.
Book Club Discussion Questions (June 16, 2021, 8 pm EDT)
- What’s your favourite part of the book?
- There are two parallel voyages in the book: Ann’s physical journey, from Toronto to the Caribbean and back, and her personal journey. Mangoes, in the broadest sense, is about making a change in one’s life. And about how that one basic change — in my case, quitting my job and heading south on a sailboat — was a pebble dropped into a pool, spreading ripples of change outward. How does Ann change as the book proceeds? Does her voice as the book’s narrator change?
- What advice would you give to someone who is contemplating doing something like Ann did? Have you ever done something like this?
- Which do you think was more difficult for Ann, making the decision to go — or coming back?
- Some reviews say that the “weather was another character in the book.” Ann says: “The weather was indeed an unpredictable character with whom I had a very personal, and emotional, daily relationship; a character that helped drive the direction and plot of the book and create dramatic tension.” What places have you been to where the weather created ‘dramatic tension’ in your travels?
- For Ann, sailing is a kind of escape. She also says that her passion for travel is connected to cooking: “the door it opens to new tastes, new ingredients, and new ways of preparing food. (My favourite place to buy souvenirs when I travel is the local grocery store and market.) For me, cooking is more than putting dinner on the table — it’s a way of unwinding after a hard day, sharing with family and friends, and escaping to other places when I can’t leave home.” What is your ‘escape’ when you travel? What things do you most enjoy?
- On the trip, Ann is constantly learning new things – what is a learning you have from your travels that has deepened your experience?
Carolyn Ray
In 2023, Carolyn was named one of the most influential women in travel by TravelPulse for her work advocating for women over 50 in travel. She has been featured in the New York Times, Toronto Star and Conde Naste as a solo travel expert, and speaks at women's travel conferences around the world. She leads JourneyWoman's team of writers and chairs the JourneyWoman Women's Advisory Council, JourneyWoman Awards for Women 50+ and the Women's Speaker's Bureau. She is the chair of the Canadian chapter of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), board member for the Cultural Heritage Economic Alliance (CHEA) in support of Black and Brown businesses, a member of Women's Travel Leaders and a Herald for the Transformational Travel Council (TTC). Sometimes she sleeps. A bit.
I cannot remember what yr I first read this book~ 2004 -5 ? It was during time of deep stress and grief as my Dad had just died from cancer after fighting it w Mother at Johns Hopkins. I promised my Dad on his death bed to look after Mother, the land, show dogs and old show horses. I remember reading and re-reading this book and crying everytime they pointed the boat back North .
Just found her Spice Necklace recipe book and devouring it.
Now to find out where to purchase the authentic Spice Necklaces to hang in my kitchen and bedroom until my own great escape.