23rd Avare Bele Mela inaugurated at Basavanagudi National College grounds

BENGALURU: The 23rd annual Avare Bele Mela was inaugurated at the National College grounds in Basavanagudi by Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty on Thursday. The Mela will be on till January 9.

The Avare Bele Mela features numerous dishes and traditional foods including holige, uppittu, khali dosa, honey jalebi, rolls, manchurian, avalakki mix, nippattu, jamoon, pulav and others. The even organised by V V Puram-based Vasavi Condiments and farmers of Magadi taluk.

Sudha Murty checking out products on sale at the Avare Bele Mela .

Speaking after inauguration the mela, Sudha Murty said, “About 20 years ago, it was started on a small scale at Sajjan Rao Circle. It’s good to see that the annual event has grown. I’m very happy that women have been able to organise this. This is an important crop in Karnataka and avarekai (broad beans) from Magadi and Tumakuru are famous. In our younger days, there were very few dishes made from avarekai and I knew only about four of them. It’s laudable that Geetha Shivakumar (of Vasavi Condiments) and her daughter Swathi are exposing Bengalureans to so many recipies”.

Further, she said, “These foods are culturally connected to the land and grown by us. It is nutritious and high in proteins. I come from a farming family and I am happy to inaugurate this event along with farmers. I also understand farmers problems and I am also intereested in agriculture”.

Actor Sihi Kahi Chandru, food blogger Kripal Amanna and AAP leader Bhaskar Rao at the mela.

Actor Tara Anuradha said, “Avarekai (broad beans) is an important crop. Geetha Shivakumar and Shivakumar came up with the idea of promoting the avarekai and I was surprised when they said they will organise a mela 23 years ago. We never knew that so many dishes can be prepared from avarekai. They started with 15 dishes now they have come up with hundreds of them”.

“Just like the annual Kadalekai Parishe is organised traditionally, the Avare Bele Mela has has also become part of Karnataka culture. It is a challenge to organise the event continuously over all these years. They now plan to take it to other localities in Bengaluru and later to other districts. Farmers from nearby districts should be lauded for facilitating the Avere Mela.it wonderful that farmers are also felicitated”, she added.

Actor Tara Anuradha and Geetha Shivakumar of Vasavi Condiments speaking to the media.

Geetha Shivakumar said, “We will not raise prices for customers. This time, we have made Avare Bele Cake and samosa. We are also creating an Appu sweet dish in remembrance of puneeth rajkumar. We should not forget our traditions and we should support farmers while customers should get good food products. These days, people are opting for fast foods like burgers and forgetting our traditional foods, so we are trying to create awareness. This is the 23rd year of the mela and due to parking issues, we have organised this year’s event at National College grounds”.