A competition to relish

25 participants attempt to devour 3 kg of mangoes within three minutes

July 07, 2018 11:34 pm | Updated 11:34 pm IST - New Delhi

  A taste of victory:  Women participants during a mango-eating competition on the second day of the mango festival in the Capital on Saturday.

A taste of victory: Women participants during a mango-eating competition on the second day of the mango festival in the Capital on Saturday.

Pinky Chawla is leaving the mango eating competition with a loose tooth and a resilient smile.

The women’s mango eating competition was observed as a part of the 30th Mango Festival hosted by Delhi Tourism at Dilli Haat Janakpuri. The three-day festival that ends tomorrow is showcasing over 500 varieties of mangoes from Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

The fest is dotted with several quizzes, games and competitions for visitors’ delight. The second day of the fair concluded with the women’s mango eating competition.

This year, 25 participants took part in the competition and attempted to devour three kilos of mangoes within three minutes. The competition commenced a little before 6 p.m. The organisers picked those varieties of mangoes which do not require peeling or cutting, they include Dasheri, Kesar and Malika.

“We want to give the participants mangoes, which are easy to squeeze,” an organiser said. “We don’t expect them to cut the mangoes first.”

But Ms. Chawla, a frequenter at the women’s mango eating festival, felt this year’s batch had tougher skin, which made it difficult to bite into the fruit and she ended up with a loose teeth. Nonetheless, she was able to ingest 2 kilos of mangoes in the alloted time.

Ms. Chawla, who is a 2010 winner of the competition, eagerly waits for this competition each year. She said she does not consume any mangoes for the better part of the year in preparation for the competition. She does so in order to build a “craving” for the fruit, which she satiates on the day of the event.

A variety of tricks

The participants practice a variety of tricks to devour as much as possible of the seasonal bounty. A few participants even resorted to eating chillies before the contest.

While some visitors participated to enjoy the pulpy fruit, others came with the intention to compete.

“I do not like mangoes very much,” Preeti Ojha, a resident of Kirti Nagar, said. “But I am competing to win.”

The participants were asked to stand on the dais and each of them were provided with 3 kg of mangoes, a bucket to discard the peel and seed, and an apron. After the contest, the judges weighed each participants’ surplus and the contents of the bucket.

The collective weight of each contestant’s peel and seed were deducted and the remaining weight was subtracted from the initial weight to determine the pulp consumption.

The first prize was bagged by Kavita Choudhary who was able to consume 1,060 grams of mango pulp. The second prize was won by Sunita who ate 980 grams of mango pulp. Krishna Aggarwal came third after eating 880 grams of mango pulp. The winners were awarded cash prizes worth ₹3,000, ₹2,000 and ₹1,000 respectively.

Ms. Chawla, a make-up artist, was not alone in her endeavour, she was accompanied by her son who is also preparing for the men’s mango eating competition scheduled for tomorrow at 5 p.m. Even though Ms. Chawla did not win she is determined to visit again next year. “I meet my old friends, enjoy and eat mangoes,” Ms. Chawla said. “What more can I ask for?”

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