Orange festival in Bengal a foodie's delight

Kolkata : Orange orchards amid the picturesque hills of north Bengal are set to woo foodies and potential tourists, courtesy an orange festival beginning here Dec 5.

Regions of north Bengal, hemmed by the north-eastern states and Bhutan, are famed for their orange farming.

"The agenda is to provide exposure to the local tour operators and orange farmers as people in the state capital are unaware of the beauty of the orange orchards in the foothills of north Bengal," Asit Biswas, owner of Help Tourism, the tour operator organising the festival, told IANS.

Biswas said apart from the succulent oranges, products, such as pickles, jams and jellies, processed from the fruit will be up for sale at the three-day fest in Kolkata's Salt Lake. This will be the maiden orange festival in the city.

Among the many regions, Mirik is considered to be the most popular, with its orchards spread over five hundred hectares of agricultural land.

The area is one of the highest producers of oranges in north Bengal.

"Apart from the oranges, we are trying to popularise homestays for tourists. The experience will be authentic as tourists can live among the locals for a few days," Biswas said.

The fest will showcase a variety of oranges from around 100 villages in the north Bengal area.