A large gathering at the Asia House was treated to mouth watering and delicious mangoes from Pakistan and its qualities as the 'King of Fruits' was recounted by the food experts. The "Mango Show" was arranged last night by the Commercial Section of Pakistan High Commission under the supervision of Commercial Counsellor Saira Najeeb Ahmed, assisted by Naghma Butt, Humera Afzal and Anela Hasan.
The guests enjoyed mango salad, mango cake and mango shake made from various varieties of the fruit grown in abundance in the sub-continent and elsewhere in the world. Pakistan High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan welcoming the guests said the 19th century Urdu/Persian poet Mirza Ghalib had extolled the tasteful qualities of the fruit through his famous couplet 'Let there be sweet mangoes and plenty of them.'
He recalled how Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto being a great lover of fruit, brought some 200 boxes of mangoes during his first stint as the High Commissioner to the UK. He said since he came to know that the British Monarch was very fond of mangoes, he had the fruit sent to the Palace and to other important dignitaries.
"Few days later at her Garden party, when I was introduced to Queen Elizabeth, her Majesty made my day when she said she was very fond of mangoes and was very pleased to know for the first time that Pakistan produced top class tasteful mangoes."
The High Commissioner also disclosed that heir to the British throne Prince Charles has fondness for this fruit and made mango ice cream for his children. Hasan said mangoes form a beautiful part of Pakistani summers. Mango expert Humera Afzal narrated the history and told the audience that there exists some 1300 varieties of the fruit, some of which are known as Anwar Retol, Dasehri, Langra, Chaunsa, Sindhri, Fajri, Alphonso.