Avarekai Mela 2024: Mother-daughter duo in Bengaluru celebrate the humble legume

It's that time of the year, and there is a nip in the air in Bengaluru. The pink tabebuias are beginning to bloom, and mounds of avarekai —  those magical beans — have started arriving in Basavanagudi, Malleswaram, and other markets.

The city is all set to host the annual Avarekai Mela (also known as Avarabele Mela), a fair that celebrates the essence of avarekai (hyacinth beans/flat beans). Started in the year 2000 by Geetha Shivakumar, the owner of Vasavi Condiments on the iconic Food Street at VV Puram, the fair has become one of the biggest crowd-pulling events in the city's incredibly diverse culinary landscape. After all, nothing assimilates cultures as easily as food does.

An array of sweets and savouries made of this legume (such as avarekai saru, holige, dosa, uppittu, jamoon, nippattu, kodubale and ice-cream) will be on display. The numbers are staggering: Over 1,000 kg of avarekai will likely be used daily during the fair to whip up over 100+ dishes.

Geetha's daughter Swathi KS, who quit her job at EY to take over the family business in 2017, tells 

The Federal : "When you eat an avarekai dosai, for instance, there is a whole trail that goes back to tradition, culture and legacy. It is amazing if you just pause for a minute and think about it."

It's hard to miss what Swathi alludes to. Apart from satiating a city hungry to experiment with a salmagundi of platters, the mela has changed the fortunes for a bulk of farmers in the neighbouring Magadi taluk, where the avarekai once was an intercrop. Now, the cultivation area has gone up, and so have the yield and demand. What was largely restricted to family recipes has now become so famous with the great Bangalore twist. Yet, the natti philosophy remains intact: you eat what you grow. Or what the world fashionably calls the 'Slow Food Movement'.

Thanks to modern farming tools, the seasonal elusiveness of avarekai has almost vanished, but Geetha says, "The real taste just comes alive during the four-month harvest."

For a city teeming with migrants, avarekai remains somewhat of a mystery. Here is a lowdown for you about the fair, the changed venue, where the legume is grown, and how it is stored and cooked. 

At their store at Food Street in VV Puram, the woman-daughter duo Swathi and Geetha is spilling all the beans.

Geetha: It all began with a home-run condiment store (1995) selling avarekai dishes I had in Mavalli. The larger motive was to support the family financially. As business and demand grew, I started procuring avarekkai [sometimes up to almost 100 kg] from farmers from other districts. In the months of December and January, when winter sets in, farmers in hordes from neighboring districts would come to Bengaluru to sell fresh produce. Since hithkabele (peeled beans) are highly perishable, I saw many of them dump their unsold produce on the streets and return home. It was a sight that broke my heart, prompting me to do something for them, and that's how the idea of Avarekai Mela popped up. Happenstance, perhaps.

We [family] had multiple sessions with farmers and we introduced fried snacks, chips and other dishes, the basic idea being to increase their shelf life. The fried items, laced with masala, were instant hits.  Basically, I started experimenting with the beans. At the same time, there was growing demand from outside Bengaluru. Thus, in the year 2000, we invited farmers from Magadi and kick-started the mela at Food Street near Sajjan Rao Circle. With its popularity rising every year, it has almost become a flagship, calendar event like Kadlekai Parishe (groundnut fair) in the city. It's also a nostalgic trip for many old Bengaloreans, who fly down from Kolkata to Hyderabad to Mumbai just to savour the dishes and soak in the experience. In fact, that is one thing we always wanted: this experience.         

Besides, it's also a time of celebration for farmers. Over 100 farmers and their families are associated with the mela, with most of them converging in Bengaluru in January to have their moment in the sun. Last year, the fair moved out of Food Street to the National College Grounds, owing to multiple reasons. Yes, we were apprehensive and upset when the venue had to be shifted, but then, looking back, the switch proved beneficial for all.  

It's mostly grown in the neighbouring places of Bengaluru: Magadi, Chikkaballapur, Doddaballapura, Chintamani, Kolar and so on. The best variety comes from Magadi because of the soil and other climatic conditions. Farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have also started growing now (earlier, many used it as cattle feed). And we procure the produce directly from farmers, without any middlemen or the so-called agents.

Earlier, they would grow avarekai as an intercrop, but once we started the mela, most of them switched to bigger spaces and independent crops. Let me say with pride over 150 families are beneficiaries of this mela. With women mostly doing the shelling/peeling, it's a great source of income for them as well. [It's a laborious process, in fact.] We do visit villages where they are grown so that we are always in the loop.

It was, but no longer. With burgeoning demand, it's grown throughout the year, thanks to the drip irrigation facility, but there is an obvious difference in taste. The avarekai sourced between October and January is undoubtedly the best. And the December (dew/mist effect!) picks come with a distinct, characteristic taste and aroma (sogadu in Kannada). We can easily make out the difference.  

Also, not many people know there are four or five varieties (like Mani variant from Tamil Nadu), though they all appear exactly the same. Technology and modern farming tools make a difference, but then you must compromise on taste. What you get undiluted from nature is the best. It should rain when it must. As I said, I prefer the Magadi beans, but given the huge demand, it's never enough.

It did, but not on the scale of other crops like paddy. The overall production has come down, probably because the supply is slightly delayed, pushing the price this year. We won't face any shortage because we source avarekai directly from farmers. 

Always be careful with hithkabele (peeled, dehusked) as it gets spoiled in hours. If you are travelling, keep it soaked in water. Once you're home, you can keep it refrigerated, maybe in the freezer. Remember to wash the beans thoroughly before use. You need not pressure-cook the beans. It's highly nutritious and packed with proteins, fibre, zinc and potassium. At home, you can make dishes from both peeled and unpeeled avarekai and the magic is such that the taste is so different and unique.

Avarekai (broad beans) is sold for Rs 50, and the shelled (avarekalu) is priced at Rs 150, and the de-husked (hithkabele) is hovering around Rs 250. It's like Rs 50 to Rs 150 to Rs 250. Now you know why peeling and shelling is such a laborious process. Of course, the quantity/ratio differs because you get only 1 kg of avarekalu if you peel 3 kg of avarekai.             

              

Swathi: Since I took over, I have been trying to take our business to the next level. But it has not been easy at all. We have had our share of ups and downs. There was a stage where we were on the brink of shutting it all. But when I heard farmers and others share my mother's hard work and toil over the years to build this, I did not want to give it up so easily.  

Yes, it was tough to quit a corporate job and take over your family business, which you had no clue about. Then, I picked up the pieces. Strange as it might sound, getting into the groove took a year or so. Bringing in the technology was the toughest part, even tiny things like setting up a billing machine. I had to have multiple sessions with the staff, cooks, long-term employees and even farmers. It was almost like a clash of cultures before we embraced technology fully. It was so exhausting, yet rewarding. As with every business, everything looks so rosy from the outside, but it's far from what you think it's.  

With increased health awareness, we are trying to make big changes, like moving from refined to cold-pressed oil. I remember the late Rishi Kapoor [a big fan of our products and was a regular whenever he was in Bengaluru] telling us to go for air-fried products for the elderly. Probably, it's time to do it, for which R&D is on. Of course, the price factor could be tricky, but this is the future we can't ignore. We are opening a new store at Bhashyam Circle in Bengaluru. We also have plans to hold Avarekai Mela in other cities in Karnataka (Mysuru and Hassan, to begin with), other Indian cities (maybe Chennai) and probably later globally as well. Enquiries are coming in, but then we need to tread cautiously. Sooner or later, it has to happen. Again, R&D is in full swing. 2024 is going to be a key year.

No aid so far. In fact, we are planning to approach the government since we deal with farmers and their well-being. We did have some early discussions, and we are hopeful of getting them.

From January 5-9 (10 am to 10 pm), at the National College Grounds, with bigger facilities this year. Last year, we had issues with crowd management and parking. Mostly because the numbers went way beyond our expectations. This time, we have got the entire ground at our disposal. There are separate counters for senior citizens, pregnant women and we are planning a separate enclosure (with a nominal fee) for people to enjoy and bask in the avarekai experience. Of course, the entry is absolutely free for everyone.

Avarekai masala vadai has become so popular. Snacks with pepper and garlic flavour are perennial favourites. Of course, sambar/saaru is an all-time blockbuster.