Avarabele Mela 2025: Bengaluru's unique beans festival turns 25

Every season, Bengaluru bustles with quirky fests, rustling up Karnataka’s diverse platter, laced with tradition, culture, or farming. The iconic, centuries-old Kadlekai Parishe (Groundnut Festival) has just been wrapped up and the city is now ready to host the annual Avarabele Mela, a fair that celebrates the essence of avarekai (hyacinth beans/flat beans).

Landmark year

And it’s a landmark year for the beans fair — it’s turning 25 next year, promising a better and bigger experience. This time, it will be held for 10 days (against just five days in the last few years).

And, the numbers are staggering: Over 30 tonne of avarekai is being procured for the fair to whip up over 150 dishes, including an array of sweets, savouries made of this legume, such as avarekai saru, holige, dosa, uppittu, jamoon, nippattu, kodubale and a unique combo of biryani-pulav.

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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 turn-out events in the city.

Large-scale prep

Geetha's daughter Swathi KS, who quit her job at Ernst & Young to take over the family business in 2017, says preparations are in full swing to “make the event most memorable” since it’s the silver jubilee year.

“In fact, we have been preparing for the last six months for a bigger scale. Which is why we have doubled the days from five to 10. More farmers, more produce, and more stalls. It’s the same venue (National College Grounds), from December 27 to January 5, 2025, and we hope to make it smoother and better than last edition,” said Swathi, conversing with The Federal at their newly opened store in Jayanagar 6th Block.

It’s almost December and tufts of avarekai/avarabele have started trickling in from other places in Karnataka like Magadi, Chikkaballapur, Doddaballapura, Chintamani and Kolar. Fickle weather did play its part, delaying the despatches.

In a week or so, Swathi expects the supply to be smooth, steady, and the prices down, but with the crowd swelling every year, she says it’s no easy ride.

“It’s almost a month away, but I am already nervous. Last year, we faced issues like crowd management, payment/internet glitches, and quick service. This year, we are better prepared, with strong Wi-Fi and express counters where you can have tickets pre-booked on platforms like BookMyShow. The idea is to reduce queues and the waiting time. Once they relish the dishes, they all seem happy, but we want the whole experience itself to be memorable, with minimal complaints,” she said.

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These tiny pods also evoke nostalgia, something which, Swathi says, lures mostly South Bengalureans living abroad to visit the fair during the yearend vacation. "We get calls and messages from many people living abroad about how they are looking forward to this mela. I hope this extended fest would be of big help for them," she added.

Sourcing from afar

Expecting huge umbers, they plan to source avarekai from places like Hunsur and Tumakuru, a first.

“As I said, we need a bigger volume this time, and for the first time, we are buying from farmers in districts we have not procured so far. Many have reached out, eager to associate with us for the event. We have also tied up with Hopcoms (farmers’ cooperative backed by the state government) so that the supply is steady,” she said, stressing that the wider network of farmers was one of the first ideas why her mother (Geetha Shivakumar) started the mela in 2000.

It indeed has grown, with over 200 farmers and their families now part of what she calls "the bigger family". With women mostly doing the shelling/peeling, it's a great source of income for them as well. Podding beans is a laborious task in itself, which explains why the prices are low for the unshelled ones.

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Most farmers send produce across the year (barring two months in summer), but the peach of the crop are the ones harvested from November to January. And, if cherry-picked regionally, the best are from Magadi, a town in the neighbouring Ramanagara/Bengaluru South district.

The greener, the better

“With greener hues, the harvest has turned good this time. The greener, the better, that's how it's. The best of the lot is from Magadi — perhaps the soil makes all the difference. Forget eating or even cooking; the very smell (Kannadigas proudly call it 'sogadu') is so captivating. It’s fascinating to spot these crops just by the aroma, not even by taste,” said Swathi, with a twinkle in her eyes.

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However, this has not been a great year on the family front. A legal wrangle led to the closure — what Swathi calls 'temporary' — of their famous outlet on Food Street at VV Puram.

"Yeah, it has been tough, with memories and emotions. The case is going on and we are looking for a favourable verdict from the court. We have opened a new branch, and plans are afoot to start a series of outlets, including dine-in. We hope to be back at VV Puram as well. I lost my father a year ago, and I can't let things go just like that," said Swathi, with a pause.

Bean there, done that?