[parpfish]

re: mangoes

In the 90s, American would've known that mangoes were a fruit and (probably) that they were orange. But they would not be in a standard grocery store. I suspect a big part of this was that for a long time the US banned mango imports from India, and that was lifted in 2007.

NYC is a bit different because it's much more multicultural and not really representative of the typical US experience. Plus, the fact that they had Kramer obsessing over mangoes was a bit of "he's a weird guy, of course he'd into a weird fruit". Living in the midwest, I think the first time I saw a mango for sale in a grocery store was probably ~2010.

re: frozen veg

they definitely existed in the 70s and 80s, but flash freezing technology has made them significantly higher quality in recent years and expanded the number/type of veg that you can find frozen. And on top of that, in the last decade has had the advent of 'steamer pouches' that make microwave cooking super-easy and they've really taken off in popularity.