Women farmers of the Sirsi-based Vanastree collective are back with the eighth edition of the Malnad Mela the coming weekend in Bengaluru. It was a collective begun to keep the local seed pool, traditional food, and women farmers’ movement alive in the Malnad region of the Western Ghats of Karnataka.
There will be live food counters where you can taste dosas with chutney and jaggery, jackfruit bonda, jackfruit masala papad, kashaya (Malnad herbal tea) and tambli . Also available will be organic open pollinated seeds, natural foods, and a selection of non-foods, all totalling more than 50 products. Banana chips, cocoa maya, chutney pudis and pickles, nelli (amla) lehya and jam, Malnad marmalade, honey, jaggery, ghee, indigo hair colour, kokum butter balm, hand knitted rugs, terracotta dhoop/candle holders with Hase art, soapnut scrub, soapberry shampoo powder and many more products will be on sale.
To commemorate entering their 15th year they have launched several new products including an all-natural Kokam Soda in partnership with a local beverage company of Sirsi, with the appeal “Drink Kokam not Coke!”
Vanastree’s partners Namma Angadi, Bhoomi Network, Gaia’s Cup, Samarthanam Trust, Timbaktu Collective and The Crafts Studio will be at the Mela with their products and message.
Art and experience will also find a place at the Mela: you can join artists Aparna and Manjusha to create a wall mural with seeds and vegetable colours, write poems and attend an English and Kannada poetry reading/singing session with a visiting poet, Denis Mair from Beijing, learn how to pan-roast coffee beans, watch the Vanastree documentary to get a peep into lives in the Malnad region.
The Mela will be held on January 31 and February 1, from 10.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Golden Bead School Richmond Road, (behind Big Kids Kemp on M.G. Road.)
For details look up >http://vanastree.org
