Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................... 2 Synopsis .......................................................................................... 4 Literature Review ............................................................................ 5 Methodology/Process: .................................................................... 7 The Product .................................................................................. 16 Scope of this design ...................................................................... 26 Conclusion .................................................................................... 27 Bibliography .................................................................................. 28 References..................................................................................... 28

Appe midi: Pickling the cultural and biological diversity of | Padmini Hegde | 201114009 of the Western Ghats in Karnataka

Introduction Communities express their identities through the kind of food that is prepared. Indeed, food is one of the most important cultural markers of identity in our contemporary societies, and it has provided a medium for the understanding of social relations, family and kinship, class and consumption, gender ideology and cultural symbolism.1 Appe midi, as it is known in Kannada, literally means the raw ,aromatic tender mango. It is a special type of pickling mango that is collected extensively from the wild, processed as a pickle, used as a commodity of commerce and is integral to the food habits of a large number of people in the Western Ghats region of Karnataka. It is naturally distributed in the central and southern parts of the Western Ghats. However its use is restricted to Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Shimoga and Chikkamagalur districts. No meal is complete without the extraordinary aroma of the appe midi pickle in this part of the country. The community known for preparing the appe midi pickles is the Havyaka community, found in this region. There are
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two main markers which sets the community apart from the rest of Karnataka; the language spoken and the food.

Fig 1. Malnad region of karnataka Hence, food becomes very important to the community for defining an identity, and even for distinguishing themselves as unique. However, with the demand increasing, the once abundant appe midi mango trees in this region have become endangered due to neglect and destruction. Though the natural variation is very high, only small part of them would be highly useful as appe varieties. (Not all individuals would be equally good with respect

Sidney W. Mintz and Christine M. Du Bois, The anthropology of food and eating

Appe midi: Pickling the cultural and biological diversity of | Padmini Hegde | 201114009 of the Western Ghats in Karnataka

to aroma, shape, shelf-life, yield etc). Through repeated sampling, farmers confirm a few individuals as best types. There are mother trees (scions are derived from these mother trees to be used for grafting). Unfortunately such mother trees (found in natural areas) are being neglected / over harvested / unscientifically cut leading to the loss of valuable material. The need to raise awareness about this endangered species has never been more pressing. Decades ago, pickle making was not such a hugely commercial exercise. Instead, there were other cultural connotations, with the art being handed down from one generation to the other, and from one family to another. Although, destruction has been prevalent in the entire region, a lot of villagers are not even aware about the endangerment of this variety of mango. However, the pickle industry has been affected at large. The consumers of the pickle constitute largely of people who procure it from the market. There is a need to sensitize the consumers regarding the foodways of this region and the conservation of this rare species.

Appe midi: Pickling the cultural and biological diversity of | Padmini Hegde | 201114009 of the Western Ghats in Karnataka

Synopsis The title of the project is Karnataka The project explores the possibility of creating an informed consumer regarding both the issues of foodways and sustainable consumption together through the biography of a rare tender mango, appe midi. The project is also an attempt create awareness among the primary producers (wiz. The farmers) regarding the issue of conservation through communication design.

Appe midi: Pickling the

cultural and biological diversity of the Western Ghats in

The final output is a new kind of pickle packaging designed for the consumers and a series of print advertisements designed for the farmers.

Appe midi: Pickling the cultural and biological diversity of | Padmini Hegde | 201114009 of the Western Ghats in Karnataka

Literature Review Culture can be identified by the transparent nature of those everyday elements in it that form the very backbone of our existence. One example of this taken for granted culture of everyday life is food, while consumed on a daily basis, often is considered a mere sustenance. Food is important, obviously. Writing about something so important should need no justification. There are, of course, diverse and good reasons to write about food, from aesthetic pleasures to consumer advocacy. Food writing is not just writing descriptions about food. It is, in fact a whole lot more than that. Today it comprises insightful commentaries and memoirs that tell of personal experiences and anecdotes intertwined deeply with food, vivid narratives, investigative pieces etc.

From high-tech kitchen gadgets to magazines to the Food Network, over the last few decades, we have witnessed a rise in food-focused consumption, media, and culture, such that there has been what we could label a food explosion. It seems as if food, and the discourses surrounding it, are all over the place from discussions on food-related forums on the internet to news stories about urban gardening or buying organic products at the local farmers market. There is a heightened awareness of foods significance within contemporary society and culture and, as such, there is a further need to explore it. In addition to being an emerging area of study, there are several major reasons why we can view food from the perspective of communication and/or use food as a means for further understanding communication theories and practices.[1] Everyone eats and every culture has its roots in hunting and gathering, growing and cooking with food. Food and foodways are at the very heart of human culture. This obsession over food has had some positive results, such as the call to eat local, sustainable and humanely raised food.

Many books in which food is the central subject have had an extra ordinary impact on the way we think about food, and our lives that explore how our world is changed by the way we grow distribute, buy and cook food. It is a mainstay of popular media.

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Spurlock, in Performing and Sustaining (Agri) Culture and Place: The Cultivation of Environmental Subjectivity on the Piedmont Farm Tour also proposes that: Because of their ability to signify, mediate, contest, and represent nature and culture, foodways are deeply rhetorical and per formative. He also maintains - Through its absences and presences in everyday life, food and foodways highlight the moral, aesthetic, and ethical concerns of a given cultural milieu. That is, if we view food as a common facet of our daily lives, then certainly food is also one of the means by which we create cultures. In his book, Food is Culture, Massimo Montanari asserts this point by claiming Food is culture when it is producedwhen it is preparedwhen it is eaten. That is to say, throughout every step of our encounters with food, we shape it in one way or another whether it is through selections of certain foods versus others, cooking processes, and/or the ways in which we consume it. Food is one of the most readily available symbols that we have at our disposal, which can be viewed from both the aspects of communication and culture. In other words, we often use food to communicate with others as a means of demonstrating our personal identity, group affiliation and disassociation, and other social categories, such as socioeconomic class.

One of the most common ways that we utilize food is in the construction of our personal identities. In other words, we regularly define who we are according to both the foods we eat and those that we refrain from consuming. We constantly use food to express not only who we are but who we wish to be asserting our membership in certain groups, distancing ourselves from others. Communities express their identities through the kind of food that is prepared. Indeed, food is one of the most important cultural markers of identity in our contemporary societies, and it has provided a medium for the understanding of social relations, family and kinship, class and consumption, gender ideology and cultural symbolism.[2] But the aspect of conservation is usually absent from all the food-talk that exists in the present scenario.

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Methodology/Process: The main focus of this study was to examine how the making and consumption of certain food items can be viewed as identity markers of a community. Can culture be preserved? What are the reasons for destruction or endangerment of the rare mango species? Why is it important for people to know where their food comes from?

content, shelf life, consistency and season of harvest. One can obtain an appe with an array of aromas ranging from that of Jeera (Cumin seeds) to that of camphor. This mango variety has a history of centuries. Sode king Sadashiva Raya makes a mention of the appe midi in his 17th century work. The Gazetteer of 1884 also makes a note of this variety. Folk tradition is replete with anecdotes and literature revolving around it. Ananthabhattas appe is perhaps the oldest variety of appe mango

I will be taking my own community as a prototype to show how food is an expression of our culture identity, to argue that regional food culture is intrinsic to how people from a particular community connect to their past, live in the present and imagine a future. Background: No meal is complete without the extraordinary aroma of the appe mango pickle in the Malnad region of Karnataka. Because of this attachment, people have developed a special mental faculty to recognize, typify, cultivate and conserve dozens of varieties of appe mango in the district. These varieties are recognized by their aroma and taste in addition to their colour, shape, size, pulp

identified and popularized a century ago in this district. The history dates back to the early 1900s, when a cultivator from Balur village by the name Anantha Bhat on the banks of the river Aghanashini, identified and popularized a variety which became very famous quickly. Even today it is one of the leading varieties, much sought after by the farmers and the pickling industry. Unfortunately this clone does not flower in many locations, making it difficult to popularize. Other varieties include Malanji appe, Haladota appe, and Karpura appe.

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The process: I have picked on this particular item of food, i.e., the pickle, because it is integral to the food habits of a large number of people from my community/region. It is popular, consumed as a regular part of the diet and therefore, taking a holistic view of food from the process of production to its final arrival on the table.
Figure 2. Board displaying varieties of Appe midi at a community nursery in Salkani, Karnataka

Also, preservation is a term that connects three important aspects of the issue The people (community), the pickle and the endangered raw mango, Appe midi. Since preservation is a part of the pickle-making process, it becomes an organizing metaphor. By talking about preservation of the pickle, indirectly talking about preserving the endangered raw mango and preserving a way of life, and therefore, a people, by trying to get them to preserve a certain aspect of what makes them, them and not somebody else. Thus, there is a logical coherence for taking these three elements into account. As mentioned earlier, we are what we eat and hence, if we conserve what we eat, we conserve what we are.

The community predominantly known for preparing the Appe midi pickles is the Havyaka community, found in the Malnad region of Karnataka. While the current population of our community is believed to stand at around 100,000 individuals, there is a clear dearth of comprehensive anthropological study about the origin and the subsequent migration of Havyakas. There are two main markers which sets the community apart from the rest of Karnataka is the language spoken and the food. Hence, food becomes very important to the community for defining an identity, and even for distinguishing themselves as unique.

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This becomes the whole purpose of sustainable growth or consumption; that we do not consume everything or deplete the resources and one eats sensibly so as to allow successive generations to be able to eat the same thing. It is not about asking people to stop consuming the fruit so that it can be saved from endangerment, but encouraging them to eat with a certain sensibility. Because, if the community stops making the pickle, the mango tree might survive but the people will be deprived of the pickle that is so intrinsic to their food plate. Therefore, the thrust here is to save/preserve all three aspects the pickle, the endangered fruit and the culture. Buying things locally is the whole trend now. So, the idea is on nurturing local ecologies The whole appe midi controversy, is The flowchart shown above gives out a clear picture of the process that has been followed. Foodways, here, is allowing me to bring the two concepts of consumption and conservation together because I am relating to peoples notions of identity and therefore it has more appeal. It is not just about the pickle, but relating the story of the pickle to a larger, regional and social history of the place. And therefore, the concept of foodways allows extending the discussion on the pickle to a larger question of food and identity.
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around the way in which, whether one can sustain the growth of this fruit without damaging the environment and to see to it that something so critical to our food plate and culture is sustained.

Field work: Except for few newspaper articles, there was not a lot of information regarding the issue on the internet, and hence a major part of my project required me to gather information on the field. The following methods were employed to perform the research: Participant observation: Since I stayed with the community during my course of research at the field, I was able to observe and record my observations with respect to the procurement, distribution, etc of the Appe midi. Audio/video taped interviews of the locals, farmers, industrialists and the Environmentalists involved. Review of newspaper articles written about the existing issue, awareness programs, historical archives(if any) and the Internet Field data archived through photo documentation and by maintaining a journal Review statistics involving the production and consumption of the mangoes/pickles

The field sites included: Villages surrounding the river valleys of Aghanashini, Kali of Uttara Kannada district, Shimoga districts of Karnataka where the appe midi mangoes are found. Household pickle makers and small scale industries in the surroundings areas. Appemidi Growers Organisation Environmentalists working towards the conservation of the rare species and members of the GEF-UNEP Project Conservation and Sustainable Use of Cultivated and Wild Tropical Fruit Diversity: Promoting Sustainable Livelihood, Food Security and Ecosystem Services where in Local institutions such as College of Forestry in Sirsi, Life Trust NGO and EcoWatch are working together to document traditional knowledge and build capacities of farmers and local communities to assess, evaluate and implement good practices that will increase the value of tropical fruit tree genetic resources.

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Findings and Discussions: According to Mr.Shivanand Kalave, a writer and environmentalist who has been one the pioneers working towards creating the awareness about conservation of appemidi species, the Uttara Kannada district has two main markers of identity Meenu (fish) and maavu (mango). He said that, it is astonishing how powerful a mere mango can be for a region that there are villages and also people named after it- Mavinakoppa, Mavinakurve, Mavinajaddi and Mavinahole are some examples. Similarly a lot of appe midi varieties are named after certain families and villages like Karnakundala, Harnalli Jeerige, Gundappe, Chouti appe, Kanchappe, Karpoora appe, Hosagadde appe and Nandagar appe. With the assistance of farmers, Kalave had held a mela(fair) of the appemidi variety back in year 2006 to identify different varieties of appe midi. The mela helped in identifying 180 varieties of appemidi. This was a good initiative to identify the pickling variety because there are a lot of wild mango varieties found in the region but not all of them are suitable for making pickles, and such varieties are invaluable and people are often ignorant about the same. Similar melas have been conducted in the region ever since. Mr. Kalave also mentioned that it is very difficult to identify the varieties

because a plant grown under a mother tree naturally may not have the same variety. Informal knowledge of grafting of these appemidis should be encouraged rather than the package of practice because only the traditional method can preserve these varieties, he opined. (Personal interview, 27 December 2012)

Figure 3. Varieties of wild mango displayed at a recent farmers meet in Sirsi

A range of culinary dishes are prepared and relished every summer with appe midi. Pickling mango species are highly restricted to river banks and other swampy areas. It has evolved as a specialist to these unique habitats. It requires very high soil moisture conditions for its flowering and fruit set.

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All the wild mango trees of these regions don't yield appe midi. Local experts differentiate an appe midi from an ordinary tender wild mango. Appe midi is quite long - generally 2.5 to 3 inches - has considerable amount of latex, looks pale green in colour and will last for years as pickle, sans any artificial preservative. (Latex is the transparent thick liquid that oozes out from the stalk of the tender mango when you cut it off.) Though most of appe midis are quite long, two to four inches to an exceptional eight inches, there are some which are round and hardly 1.5 inches long. Some are dark green in colour. One of the specialties of the appe midi pickle is that there is no use of any artificial preservatives, not even oil when made at home; the mango latex itself gives the pickle a shelf life of around four years. This latex is stored and used as a flavoring agent in an offseason. Procurement of these mangoes in villages is different from that of pickle factories. In the villages where pickle-making is still a household practice, during the harvest season, a specified date (usually the first day of the year in the Hindu calendar, i.e., the Ugadi festival) is announced for the harvest. By word of mouth, hundreds of 'regular customers' reach the tree on the day of harvest. This is a sort of ritual in itself and very rarely is mangoes bought on any other day. Depending on the demand, a ration is fixed. The buyers are not allowed to pluck the mangoes, but there is a separate group of people who are specialized for the job. Mangoes, sufficient for making pickles which could last for about
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Figure 4. Steps showing traditional method of preparing the pickle

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two years are bought at once because these trees usually bear fruit once in two years. Although there are sufficient number of appe midi trees available in most villages, people tend to wait for Ananta Bhattana appe, as it is said to be best suitable for making pickles. By harvesting the mangoes at a particular time every year, the community helps conserve the biodiversity by guaranteeing the supply. i.e., it is picked at a particular time, so that once it is preserved, the time gets extended (the pickle has a shelf life of about 2-3 years). Therefore, it is not just the issue of identity, but time is crucial too. And since the demand for the pickle has increased now, people go for untimely harvest, which in turn has led to quality deterioration. Thus, the community has a major role in being able to conserve the species because of the cultural connotations linked to it. This could be compared with the issue of the gene pool of almost 90 per cent of local rice varieties in the country in 1995 that had been wiped out since the Green Revolution in 1965 in West Bengal, which was saved by Mr. Debal Deb who has been working for more than 15 years saving the most uncommon of the common rice. This was made possible with the help of tribal

farmers who still traditionally grew the local and wild varieties of rice. When asked that if these mangoes were sold in the market commercially instead of distributing them to the neighboring villages, Ganapati Naik, farmer and owner of an age old appe midi tree of the Ananta Bhatta variety said, if taken to the market a single buyer would take a thousand mangoes but it would deprive several villagers to be able to make pickles and he would rather feed ten families instead of selling the mangoes to a single person for a higher price at the market. Only after distributing mangoes to all the families in their village, is the word spread to the neighboring villages. Mangoes are distributed for free in their own village and a ration is fixed for people coming from other villages. He also stressed on the fact that it is more of a tradition to distribute mangoes than it being a commercial exercise. The mango tree has seen three generations of their family and they continue to look after the tree; not for the value of money but because they are producing something which is of pride to their family and village. (Personal interview, 16 January 2013)

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According to Dr. Vasudev, Forestry Expert and local partners of Bioversity international, there are very few mother trees left and this is one of the main reasons for the endangerment of the appe midi variety. Grafting cannot take place if the mother trees are not available. Most of the farmers are unaware about identifying appe midis from other invaluable wild mango varieties. If the existing mother trees are well taken care of, grafting can be done, which in turn will ensure the conservation of the rare mango species. (Personal interview, 18 January 2013) Bioversity International, with partners, has a Tropical Fruit Tree Conservation (TFT) project, supporting a local group to conserve appe midi variety and other tropical fruits. According to Dattatraya Hegde, farmer and member of the TFT project, today commercial plantation-based agriculture of the Western Ghats has been changing and farmers are looking at new cash crops such as vanilla and agar-wood because of diminishing returns from traditional crops. One of the major challenges of fruit tree crops, such as mango, is the increasing vulnerability to climate change; especially the flowering and fruit set stages, which could be very badly affected by off-season rains. Further, the year-toyear fluctuations in the market prices for fruits have made prediction of returns almost impossible. Farmers are not

completely aware of the market chain; that is the biggest hurdle in marketing lesser-known local varieties and hence maintaining the higher on-farm diversity. Also, knowledge is being lost among the farmers about locally important varieties. Though arecanut (betelnut) is his main cash crop, Mr. Dattatreya started to plant fruit crops a decade and a half ago. Today he receives some 20% of his family income by selling appe midi mangoes as well as grafted cuttings of these diverse varieties. He also stressed that there is always a need to diversify fruit crops, to include local varieties of commercial importance. Since changes in flowering and fruit-set are becoming more and more pronounced in the recent 5-6 years, having multiple varieties is better since they act like insurance in the changing environment and contribute to the sustainable food production. Developing local demand and catering to it is the key to market the local varieties. (Personal interview, 14 January 2013)

Decades ago, pickle making was not such a hugely commercial exercise. Instead, there were other cultural connotations, with the art being handed down from one generation to the other, and from one family to another. Although, destruction has been prevalent in the entire region, most house-hold pickle makers

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have not been affected by it yet. In fact, a lot of villagers are not even aware about the endangerment of this variety of mango. There are about a dozen big pickle industries in this region that use anything from 20 to 150 tonnes of tender mangoes every year. M N Pickles of Shiralakoppa taluk, which uses regular tender mangoes and not appe midis - is the highest that uses 150 tonnes and has an impressive 'direct marketing' network. While all other pickle companies mainly depend on shops for marketing, M N Pickles does it through the agents who do direct marketing by running 'mobile shops'- These are special vans that carry pickle to different towns and sell it directly. M N Industry's Mr. Ramchandra Shetty produces a limited quantity of appe midi pickle commercially and exports it to several countries. He said he is unable to cater to even a quarter of the demand due to lack of availability of the fruit. Pickles used to be made sufficient for a years supply and this has reduced to 4-5 months now. The factory procures the appe midis from the local markets and there is an uncertainty in the supply. Although there is a lot of demand for it, due to the lack of consistent availability, manufacturers depend on other pickles such as lemon pickles, cut-mango pickles etc. However, Appe midi pickles are sold at a

much higher price than the other pickle varieties because of their uniqueness. During the course of my research, I identified the various reasons responsible for the endangerment of the rare mango species and the steps that have already been taken up by various organizations to overcome this issue. Although these initiatives have been quite successful, they were mainly focused on how to conserve- different grafting methods being taught etc. These were not focused on why one needs to conserve. Initially the communication was to be targeted to the consumers of the pickle alone. But there is a need to include the primary producers (the farmers) as well because eventually, they are the ones who can actually work towards saving the rare species of mango. And this message is best served if taken from the producers to the consumers. Hence, expanding the domain of communication to the primary producer as well because conservation does not happen just by creating awareness, one has to intervene.

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The Product 1. Pickle packaging design While we may not know what television shows or advertisements consumers are watching, which or where consumers are strolling in hyperspace, we do know that within the retail environment consumers come in contact with the packaged product and most of the buying decisions are made at the shelf itself. Food packaging concentrates on principles associated with engineering, graphic design and advertising. Apart from being just an important sales tool and displaying important and compulsory product information major function of packaging is the communication of the product. There is a reason why the communication aspect is so important. In case of a modern supermarket, packages replace people. There is nobody to introduce you to the various products, nobody to help you choose whats right for you, nobody to explain the benefits of a specific product to guide you in your purchase. The packaging has to do all that. Communication in packaging design is about the capability of a pack to replace a living salesperson. The proposed design intends to serve this purpose and beyond.

This is an item of consumption that needs to be consumed as well as sustained. Sensitization to consumption can only be achieved when there is a retrospective demand which will ensure conservation. Therefore by matching the demands of the two issues, the idea was to create a new kind of pickle packaging design that involves both. Present day Appemidi pickle packaging: Traditionally, the practice is to prepare pickles at home and store in ceramic or earthenware jars. Gradually over the years, pickles are manufactured and commercially marketed as branded products. In small towns, still, a large quantity of pickle is sold loose, with no brand name on it or any information regarding the producer. The shopkeeper displays various types of pickles in large glass jars, and weighs out desired quantity of pickle to his customers. However, pickles packed in glass bottles, LDPE pouches and PET jars and under different brand names have become popular. Most pickles are packaged generically in a way that there is only information about the manufacturer and the brand. Most manufacturers follow the same standard way of packaging, be it any pickle.

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people of the same community living in the other parts of the country or abroad; people who would buy the pickle at specific boutique stores or emporiums. The non-kannadigas would include people who do not belong to this part of the country. Understanding the tastes of these three categories, the packaging of the pickle had to be designed respectively.
Figure 5. Generic way of packaging that is employed by most manufacturers at present

Since a major part of the target consumers belong to Karnataka, I have employed a bilingual packaging design where the text is in both English and Kannada. The compulsory product information has been written in English and the tagline is bilingual. (Kannada and English) The tagline here sends out a message to conserve the rare tender mango. I started with writing advertising slogans for the product in both English and Kannada. After discussing with Prof. Devy, out of the ten slogans that I had written in each of the languages, five were finalized.

Even though this pickle is of a rare variety and exclusive to this part of the country, the way it is packaged fails to communicate about its regional identity. Strategy: The consumers of this pickle are divided into three categories. 1. The locals 2. The diasporic kannadigas 3. The non-kannadigas The locals are the people of the same community who would buy the pickle directly off the shelf from the local grocery store. These are regular buyers who buy the pickle in larger quantities since it is a part of their daily diet. The diaspora here refers to

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The following are some of the ideas conceptualized for the pickle packaging design. Idea 1: Most of the pickle industries in the region use pearl-pet jars to package pickles. In this concept, I have tried to redesign the existing style of packaging by incorporating certain new elements such as a label on the cap of the bottle and a hang-tag.

also used to show the quality of a product, how good it is for us or for our environment. Along with the label, there will be a hang-tag booklet attached to the bottle which would provide little-known facts about Appe midi, describing the uniqueness of the fruit. These tags can be printed in different sizes and shapes and on different card thicknesses depending on the size of the bottle and can be easily attached with different types of cotton, string or plastic fasteners.

Since it is tender mango pickle, I have used mango flowers to illustrate the background. I have used a shade of green that is similar to that of the pickle mango. Green, in food packaging is

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Idea 2:

In this design I have used simple and minimalistic

graphics using elegant and simple typefaces upon large white space or canvas to give the design a distinctive appeal. The large white canvas is balanced with the maroon color of the pickle appearing through the glass at the base and top of the glass jar. The USP of this design is that the top portion of the label which serves as a seal can a peeled off, and it has text written inside. This would contain the tagline/ message that the product has to convey. Often, with simple packaging, the consumer fails to read the information provided at the back of the bottle. If there is a lot of text given on the label, it often goes unnoticed by the consumer. This design would ensure that the information is read as one peels off the seal, while generating curiosity. The image shows hand-drawn illustrations of the above mentioned idea in a step-wise sequence.

Why didnt it work? Although it was not a complex design, the graphics had to be printed on both sides of the label. I found out from the printers that the procedure was a little elaborate and they would agree to do it if it were a bulk order. Since I had to get only a single label printed, execution of the idea failed.

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However, I used the Autodesk 3ds Max to make 3D models of the same concept to give a realistic look to it as shown.

Final idea: The second category of consumers, i.e. the diaspora would buy the packaging along with the pickle. One of the important factors of the proposed design was to bring in the regional identity of the product in the packaging. This would target both the diaspora and the non-kannadigas. Hence, keeping the cultural aspect of the product intact, the idea was to use a visual language that the target audience can relate and understand. The graphics have been hand drawn and further edited using Adobe Illustrator. The illustrations used contain various elements which are intrinsic to the Malnad region of Karnataka such as arecanut trees, yakshagana, clouds, rains, hills, rivulets, flowering and fruiting of mango trees, brick roof houses etc. The package is meant to be reminiscent of the region for the diasporic consumer; evoke nostalgia and memories related to the region. When one looks at the graphics, he can immediately connect to it. Also, for the non-kannadiga, this illustration is effective since it helps create a regional identity of the place and the consumer would buy it as a collectible.

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The graphics was initially printed on a label stuck on a glass jar as shown below.

During my previous presentation, I was asked to utilize sustainable and organic material available in the region for packaging, so that it goes with the whole idea of sustainable consumption. Pickle packaging or any kind of preserve packaging has a different kind of identity, because today, even though these

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products are industrially produced, they still retain the sense of home; a cottage industry flavor to it. Considering all of the above factors, I redesigned the packaging keeping the same graphics. Since, the idea on sustainable consumption, it needed to have an organic feel to it. I used material such as banana bark and recycled paper to make boxes which would contain the jar of pickle.

The box is made up of recycled paper and dried banana bark. The jar used is in the shape of a bharani (ceramic jars used to store pickle traditionally). Pickle has a home quality attached to it and therefore, its packaging needs to be sort of different from other packaged food items. The jar used, gives a home feel to the packaging. Since this design is targeted towards the nonkannadiga consumers as well, the booklet provides a story about appe midi including information about its history and how important it is to the community.

Figure 7. Layout of the booklet

Figure 6. The final prototype

As shown in the above image, the package design consists of three components- the outer box, the pickle jar and the booklet.

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4. Print ads/Posters: Since the target audience constituted villagers, print media, radio or television were the three modes through which the intended message could have been conveyed effectively. The message could have been well put across through an ad campaign which could include a short ad film along with the print ads. However, if I had to make use of the harvesting of the tender mangoes in the video, it would not have been possible because the harvest usually occurs during the last week of March or first week of April and I could not have travelled during the time as per project timeline. If an advertisement is printed on paper, be it newspapers, magazines booklets, flyers or anything else that would be considered a portable printed medium, then it comes under the banner of print advertising. However, I have created a series of three ads in poster format which can take shape into other forms of print ads as well. I have used the regional language, kannada in all the ads suitable for the target audience. These posters could be put up at various locations in the villages where people gather.

The posters are an added value to the existing communication strategies that have been adopted by conservationists or other groups working towards creating awareness regarding the issue of conservation. These posters focus on why the community needs to conserve the species rather than how. The idea was to alert people from seeing the flavors of their childhood disappear, to help them save for their future generations a piece of the culture and history of which they are a part. Poster 1: This poster shows a withering mango tree which forms family tree, with the older generations at the root and the tree withers as one moves towards the newer generations at the top. The 'appe midi' is like a family heirloom, being passed on from generations. However, with it getting endangered, it may not be available to the future generations. This is shown through the mango tree, where the older members of the family are the greener, healthier part of the tree at the bottom and the younger ones are at the top where the tree is withering away.

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Poster 2: In this poster, using typography, the names of villages that are named after 'mango' (Like Mavinakoppa, Mavinakurve, Mavinajaddi etc; 'maavu' meaning mango) form the shape of a mango.

Here, the withering mango tree is considered as a metaphor to talk about the fast dying appe midi species; to show that something that has always been there may not be available for the future generations. There are a number of villages in the region which are associated with the word 'mango' showing that the fruit has always been of high importance to the people of the region. And since the mango is fast-dying, these villages will soon lose their identity; in the sense that, the names of these villages will no longer hold any value.
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Poster 3: This poster shows a mother and a son, where a mother and her child are looking at a picture of jar of 'appe midi' pickle hung on the wall. The picture has a garland over it, just like how garlands are hung over pictures of deceased people in the family.

Poster 4: This poster constitutes of a mango tree in the centre surrounded by people, as though they are protecting the tree; who in turn are surrounded by mango trees and the circle goes on till it fades away.

Here, I'm trying to spread the message in a rather humorous way by saying that a time might arrive in the future, where our future generations will only get to see the pictures of this fruit and not be able to get a taste of it. This has been exaggerated with the garland hung over the picture of the mango. The slogan in kannada literally means, What we save, saves us. This message is visually represented in the poster showing people or the community saving the mango tree and the mango tree saving their culture.
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Scope of this design Todays consumer does not just buy from a store; a lot of knowledge is gathered from the web as well. Of course, there are consumers who would never go to a website but there is a niche audience who actually do. Although, packaging serves to communicate the message to the consumer who buys directly from the shelf, to reach a wider audience, a website can be of an added value. This website could contain stories regarding other such food products. As mentioned earlier, to reach a larger array of audience, along with the print ads, a short ad film could be created to create awareness among the farmers.

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Conclusion The project aimed to create a food supply chain that is culturally, environmentally and socially sustainable, involving both the producer and the consumer, conveying the same message in different contexts. It is important for farmers/producers and consumers to work together in order to defend our agricultural heritage. Over the last few decades, there is a heightened awareness of foods significance within contemporary society and culture and as such, there is a further need to explore it. It is not about just the pickle, but relating the story of the pickle to the larger regional and social history of the place; thus allowing the discussion of the pickle to a larger question of food and identity. The project thus intended to approach it through the conceptual category of food ways on one hand and sustainable consumption on the other hand through the biography of a rare tender mango, appe midi.

With this project, I tried to smuggle out a symbolic tradition, one they is not about just keeping alive among the community, but among people throughout the world. This continuation of our food heritage helps us maintain a sense of identity. This pickle is a symbol of a historic, storied culture and its fight to stay intact. By keeping it alive, we preserve a culture.

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Bibliography [1] Sidney W. Mintz and Christine M. Du Bois, The anthropology of food and eating [2] Charles Camp, Foodways in everyday life

References Anitha Pailoor (2007,May). Save the appemidi InfoChange News &Features. Retrieved August 16, 2012 from http://infochangeindia.org/other/features/save-theappemidi.html Sandhya Hegde Almane ( 2012, August 20). Of Mangoscented Malnad air Deccan Herald. Retrieved August 20,2012 300x250.swf Atula (2011, March). Rare Pickle Mango Variety on Path of Resurrection. Retrieved on-path-of-resurrection/ Design issues, Vol 26, No. 2, spring 2010, Anthorp. Designs role in sustainable consumption (2013, Mar 2). About Packaging Sense .Retrieved April 10, 2013 from http://packagingsense.com/?page_id=2 August 18, 2012 from http://indiasendangered.com/rare-pickle-mango-varietyfrom http://www.deccanherald.com/content/156504/banner-

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