The mangoes of Africa were ready for their close-up. Amid the scores of varieties savored at last weekend's International Mango Festival at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden -- and the hundreds that grow in Asia, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean -- Heidi, Malindi, Zebda and Nelpetite were in the spotlight.

''Mangoes came in from India to Egypt, then moved south through the African continent,'' says Richard Campbell, who, as senior curator of tropical fruit, is Fairchild's chief mango wrangler.

''We grow them,'' he says. ``One comes from Kenya -- Malindi. It is a spicy tropical mango, very Caribbean. It's flavorful, spicy, with a lot of peach in it.

``Zebda, from Egypt, is very well-adapted to South Florida. It's a green mango -- green skin, very good, disease-resistant, no fiber.

''Nelpetite and Heidi are from South Africa. Nelpetite is a dwarf variety with good, rich flavor. Heidi is a big, beautiful, bold mango,'' Campbell says. ``It's a dense tree, not dwarf, but semi-dwarf.''

In our part of the world, mangoes are a slice-score-eat affair, and two decades ago, the Mango Gang of chefs -- Allen Susser, Norman Van Aken, Mark Militello, Douglas Rodriguez, Robbin Haas -- showed us how they can spark savory dishes.

In African countries, Campbell says, there are some pretty distinct regional differences in how mangoes are used.

``In the last 100 years, Egypt developed an industry based on juices. They started growing them in the '30s, '40s and '50s when it really took off. They eat a great deal of mangoes as juice. It's street food in Cairo. They have mangoes stacked and put them in a blender. Mango juices on those hot nights . . .''

Early in the last century, he says, Portuguese traders brought mangoes into central Africa.

``There the mango took on a very important role in everyday life. There are wild types grown from seeds. You find them in Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa. There were important mango industries in Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Ghana. They had a very nice and profitable industry based on a Florida variety -- the Keitt.

``While at the University of Florida, my father [horticulturalist Carl Campbell] was working in Ghana in 1962, helping build their industry. It was a [U.S. Agency for International Development] project. Later, I went back to work with the World Bank to help them retool it. In central Africa, they eat mangoes fresh. They like them ripe and there's little juicing.''

Going farther south, Campbell says, the South African mango industry developed at the same time as that in Ghana. But it took a different road.

``It was very high-tech, with sophisticated breeding programs. It took 26 days to get South African mangoes shipped to European markets. They created a red, red, red mango [the Heidi] that they could send on a ship for almost a month.''

Post-apartheid South Africa found new demand for its mangoes at home, including a growing dried-mango industry. ''There's a new economic empowerment,'' Campbell says.

``Most of the industry is now local. South Africa has a big population, and they know how to eat mangoes.''

Nancy Ancrum writes biweekly about the culinary legacy of the African diaspora.

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