Winter is officially here for food lovers in Bengaluru, with the annual Avarebele Mela being hosted at National College Grounds in Basavanagudi. The ongoing festival, which will continue till January 9, is in its 23rd edition. The winter food fest was kickstarted by Sudha Murty, author and philanthropist, who suggested getting a Geographical Indication tag for avarebele, a bean synonymous with Bengaluru.
Sri Vasavi Condiments has been organising the mela on Food Street for nearly two decades, and has left no stone unturned to make this a grand one. The food fest has over 100 dishes a year, all centered on avarebele. From 100 varieties of dosas, vadas, ice-creams and savouries, avarebele lovers are spoilt for choice.
You don’t just have to stick to traditional South Indian dishes to enjoy this seasonal bean. “The fest will also have experimental Chinese dishes such as chowmein and fried rice with avarebele seeds. Some other popular dishes are snacks like avarebele chikki, avarebele halwa, which are among the popular items,” says Geetha Shivakumar, owner of Sri Vasavi Condiments.
This year, the organisers are also introducing a special sweet called ‘Appu Special’ as a tribute to the late Puneeth Rajkumar. “Appu was not just a movie star, every true Bengalurean felt like he was a family member. This avarebele is our small tribute to him,” says Geetha.
The festival usually takes place on Food Street in VV Puram, however, this year, the organisers moved it to National Grounds. “We have been holding this festival for more than 20 years, and each year, the crowd has kept growing. We felt it would be wiser to move it to National Grounds,” she said.
POP BEAN
Avarebele is the Kannada name for the ‘Hyacinth bean’
Many farmers travel to food fests to sell their produce directly to customers
Avarebele is largely cultivated in Karnataka during the winters, grown as field crop in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra too.
newindianexpress.com