Feast of native mango varieties

Jotirmay Thapliyal

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 3

The Mango festival at Navdanya Biodiversity Conservatory Farm, Dehradun, drew one and all to cherish naturally ripened mangoes here today.

Over 30 organic promoters from Dehradun, along with 50 international participants from countries such as Japan and the USA, came together at the farm to relish the native varieties of mangoes, including amrapali, dussheri, langra, totapuri, desi, chausa, kamli, safeda and malda.

The festival began with Dr Vinod Bhatt’s opening address where he gave a brief overview about organic farming and Navdanya Farm. Dr Bhatt talked of how Navdanya had ensured farmers’ participation in the organic movement in the region.

Later, the participants relished eating mangoes. A group of 18 students for New Orleans University were thrilled to discover the rich diversity of tastes and flavours of mangoes.

Emma Ratcliffe from the USA said mango is her favourite fruit and this was the first time she had got to learn so much about the fruit. Tasting so many varieties of mangoes was something she had not done so far in life, she said.

Mango tasting was followed by the mango feast, created especially by Navdanya’s chefs to the theme of the festival. It featured over 10 dishes, ranging from aam pulao to mango srikhand. There were different types of vegetarian preparations with mangoes blended into them.

“I have worked tirelessly for over one month to prepare this menu. It was very challenging as I had to experiment with ingredients to get the perfect taste. I hope that people who came here today would take back home some of the flavours and fond memories of the mango festival,” said Navdanya chef Kamal Chhettri.

Navdanya director Kuldip Shiva said mango is the king of all fruits in India and is also called the fruit of immortality by some.