Former News-Press Food Critic writes powerful memoir, “The Mango Tree”

For 15 years, Annabelle Tometich wrote under the famous byline Jean Le Beouf as a food critic for the News-Press. Now, she tells her personal story in her book, “The Mango Tree.”

Tometich has been making headlines with her book, “A Memoir of Fruit, Florida and Felony: The Mango Tree.”

“This book is, you know, it’s a coming-of-age,” said Tometich. “Memoirs, a mother-daughter relationship, identity, you know, there’s a lot of layers to ‘The Mango Tree.'”

The book centers around an incident in 2015 when her Filipino mother shot a man with a BB gun, who she thought was stealing her mangos from her personal tree.

After the news broke and made headlines across the state of Florida, Tometich remembers the ordeal as “mortifying.”

“A few hours after her calling me from jail, I’m sitting at her first appearance hearing,” said Tometich “A breaking news reporter from the News-Press is calling me and is like, ‘Hey, is this your mom?'” Tometich sighed and continued saying, “I was like, ‘Oh, we aren’t going to be able to get away.'”

Once the news broke, Tometich felt she could no longer hide behind the name “Jean Le Beouf” after the incident.

Continuing her passion for writing, she decided to write “The Mango Tree” during the pandemic to explain what happened that day and her experiences growing up as a Filipino American in Fort Myers.

Tometich showed WINK news her mother’s garden, filled with half a dozen mango trees and other fruit trees.

The original mango tree that started the chaos was swept away in 2017 after Hurricane Irma.

Tometich describes how much the mango trees meant to her mother and her Filipino heritage.

“I think for my mom, that tree was like her connection to the Philippines,” said Tometich, “She spent a very long time just trying to get a tree to grow.”

Tometich describes how she “loved having that pseudonym to hide behind” and was nervous about leaving the role behind.

“I was really scared that people were going to freak out,” said Tometich. She adds that letting go of the role opened herself and others to the possibility of trying something new.

“We’re just making room for other voices, you know?” said Tometich “Other personalities to be developed like this.”

On Tuesday, at the High-Tide Studio Gallery in Naples, Tometich will hold a book signing from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

She hopes to continue writing children’s books and part II of “The Mango Tree” to describe her role more in-depth as “Jean Le Beouf.”