US Appetite Grows For Indian Mangoes

WASHINGTON, DC-Hundreds of visitors queued up at Dupont Circle on June 27 to sample Indian mangoes at the annual Mango Festival, with many calling for wider availability of premium Indian varieties in the United States.

The festival, organized by the Embassy of India in Washington in collaboration with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), the Department of Commerce and the Dupont Circle Business Improvement District, showcased popular Indian mango varieties, including Alphonso, Kesar, Dasheri, Langra, Banganapalli, Chausa, Malda and Rajapuri.

Indian Ambassador Vinay Mohan Kwatra said the festival has grown rapidly over the years and has become an annual attraction.

“If you go around Dupont Circle… you will find multiple… queues of people essentially wanting to taste the Indian mango. Indian rice is served alongside biryani here. Indian tea, Indian coffee… People are joyful. People are enjoying, we feel happy about it,” Kwatra said.

“We need to have more quantities of mango coming in, but invariably they come, and they are sold even before they find the shelf space on the shelves,” he added.

A visitor identified as Crystal described the Rajapuri variety as her favorite.

“I’ve heard a lot of fantastic stories about Indian mangoes… this is so different, and it’s like sweet and soft, and it’s great. I love it,” she said.

Another visitor, David Woodhead, said tasting the fruit brought back memories of India.

“These mangoes, as soon as I tasted them, it’s just like I sat on a time machine and went back to India… The flavor is so rich, and we can’t get it at Costco. We can’t get this in the US, and these mangoes are just different,” he said.

Another visitor, Radha, said Indian mangoes offer flavors unavailable in commonly sold varieties in the US.

“We do take the Mexican mangoes from the Indian store. But… they don’t have the same flavor I just had… it’d be good if we had more of those. The flavors are really very distinct,” she said.

Ravi Soni, an exporter participating in the festival, said the strong response had encouraged Indian suppliers to expand their offerings.

“We’ve been supplying various varieties from India, trying to increase the number of varieties from just four to five to almost 15 to 20 next year,” Soni said, adding that consumers should find “much more affordable” Indian mangoes and a wider selection in the coming year.

India, the world’s largest mango producer, exports only a limited number of varieties to the United States due to phytosanitary requirements and mandatory pre-shipment treatment. The annual Mango Festival promotes Indian produce and growing agricultural trade between the two countries. (IANS)