So you love mango chow!

Well, the “world’s first Chowfest” will be held this summer in a city where mangoes does not grow but are eaten in large quantities.

That city is Toronto where crates of the fruit are imported from the Caribbean, Africa and South Asia to meet the demand of immigrant communities.

Trinidad-born Roodney Clarke, one of the organizers of what he calls ” the world’s first  Chowfest, ” say the annual event started a few years ago “at backyard barbecues” and then moved to a Brampton bar in 2016 for the first official Chow competition.

For the uninitiated, mango chow is a kind of fruit salad.

As Clarke noted, food in general can be referred to as chow but for natives of Trinidad and Tobago, chow has a special meaning “when referring to mango.”

According to the Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and  Tobago, this type of chow is “pomsitay[golden apple] or green mango prepared  with pepper, salt, lime juice or vinegar and usually eaten as a snack or accompaniment to a  meal.”

Asked about his claim of having the “world’s first Chowfest,”Clarke said that so far it (the claim) has gone unchallenged.

“Unless some other  group can prove that our claim is incorrect, we will continue to  call our event ” the world’s first Chowfest.”

This year the third annual Chowfest will be held at Eclectic Lounge, 2 Steinway Blvd. in Etobicoke on August 25.

A trophy will be presented to the adjudged winner of the best prepared chow.