Washington: Indian mangoes are making a fresh push into the US Pacific Northwest, with Seattle-area stores beginning to stock the prized fruit after what Indian officials described as a year-long outreach effort involving retailers, distributors and local consumers.
The renewed spotlight on Indian mangoes came after a special segment aired on Fox 13 News’ “Good Day Seattle”, where India’s Consul General in Seattle, Prakash Gupta, spoke about the arrival of varieties including Kesar and Alphonso mangoes in the region.
“Indian mangoes are special for a variety of reasons,” Gupta said during the programme. “It typically represents the onset of the summer season. And our growing up memories are associated with this fruit. Families bond over mangoes.”
Fox 13 anchor Sean Chien introduced the segment by noting that India is “the world’s largest producer of mangoes”, while adding that the fruit had been “hard to secure here in western Washington”.
Gupta linked the growing availability of Indian mangoes in the United States to what he described as “mango diplomacy” between the two countries. He recalled that during then-President George W. Bush’s 2006 visit to India, the American leader tasted an Alphonso mango and remarked, “what a hell of a fruit.”
“That started that wave of mangoes coming into the US,” Gupta said.
According to Gupta, the Seattle consulate hosted a mango promotion event last year where local residents and distributors sampled four Indian mango varieties. The outreach later expanded to grocery chains, delivery platforms and “big US retailers” to test consumer response in the Seattle market.
“I’m very happy to say that after efforts of one year, we are now going to have all kinds of Indian mangoes beginning this weekend,” he said.
The diplomat said Indian mangoes were expected to be available at Indian grocery stores as well as Costco outlets in Seattle, Kirkland and Redmond from Sunday onwards.
The television segment also turned into an informal lesson on how different Indian mango varieties are eaten. Gupta explained that some varieties are best “sucked”, while others such as Kesar and Alphonso are better scooped with a spoon.
(IANS)
