Strawberries are the new guavas in Bengaluru

Hawkers selling pineapples and guavas to people stuck at traffic junctions is a common sight in Bengaluru. But strawberries? It was an unusual but ubiquitous sight this winter.

“We bring these strawberries from Mahabaleshwar, a hill station in Maharashtra,” says Sajid, a vendor Metrolife met near Sankey Tank on Tuesday. About 85% of India’s strawberries are grown on the hilly slopes of Mahabaleshwar, also a famous tourist spot in the Western Ghats.

Every two days, Sajid visits the Kalasipalyam market to replenish his stocks. Each carton contains eight boxes. A box can accommodate up to 18 strawberries and is sold for Rs 80.

Sarwar, who sources strawberries from Mahabaleshwar and supplies them to vendors like Sajid, says, “Roadside strawberry selling is common in Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Two years ago, somebody told us we should try Hyderabad and cities in the south.” That is when the roadside trend began here. “I am also supplying to 20 apartments in the city,” he informs.

In Whitefield alone, 70-80 vendors were camping in December, the beginning of the strawberry season, he says. A banker from the neighbourhood concurs that strawberries were “everywhere” and she found the roadside variety tastier than the supermarket stock.

Another resident of Whitefield says strawberries being sold in baskets outside his apartment became a daily sight. “I thought new farmers who haven’t yet established their supply chain with the supermarkets are sending young boys to sell the supplies on the streets,” says the army man.

His wife, a cybersecurity manager, thought it was a marketing strategy. “When a hawker sells you strawberries, you assume they are coming fresh from the farm.”

With the mango season approaching, these strawberry vendors, mostly migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, are going back to their village. “About 10-20 vendors are left in the city now. I am staying back to sell mangoes. I will go back in June or July,” Sarwar says.

“We would earlier buy strawberries from supermarkets, and in recent years, grocery shops started stocking them. But roadside selling is new,” Ravindra Ramesh, an old-time resident of Palace Guttahalli, says. He has spotted vendors selling strawberries at traffic junctions at Sadashivanagar, Yeshwanthpur and Goraguntepalya.

‘This year, it was a competitive season’

According to strawberry supplier Sarwar, about 500 vendors sold strawberries across Bengaluru in December. “In the previous years, their number was not more than 10 or 15. But this time, strawberry vendors from Chennai and Hyderabad also turned up in Bengaluru. The competition heated up and affected individual sales,” he says.