Media Release
 
Chicago, October 30: The Mangalorean Konkan Christian Association (MKCA), USA celebrated “Konkan fest-2006” at Courtland Square, Des Plaines, Illinois.  This program reflected unique Mangalorean culture and heritage. MKCA president Stan D’Souza welcomed the chief guests Roshan and his wife Rosanne D’Souza who flew from Washington DC just to take part in this historical Konkani program in Chicago. The program started with food competition, singing competition, and fancy dress competition. 

It was a feast of food and some one called it “The Taste of Mangalore” There were about 60 variety of food and all of them were home-made by the contestants. There were four categories for the competition – appetizer, main course, dessert, and side dish. Rita Saldanha, Dr. Merlyn D’ Souza, and Leena Mendonca were the judges for the food competition. Judges had extensive background not only in preparation of authentic Mangalorean food, but also tasting it as well!  Event Chairperson Larry Mascarenhas introduced the judges to the audience and the competition started. Contestants names were kept secret and the food items were marked with code numbers. Items like pathrade kadi, pathrade fry, kube mutlim, sporothel, pork indaad, kaanne (lady fish) jeerem-mirim kadi, pork bapad, chicken sukka, 65, masala, green curry, vada-chutney, Mangalorean bun, potato cutlets, variety of biriyani, maani, thoushyache mandass, galmbyanchi chetney-just to name a few were among the typical Mangalorean dishes.

It seems the judges had a hard time to judge the competition because of too many variety of food, or perhaps, concern about gaining a few extra pounds of weight! The food competition winners are as follows:
 
Appetizer category – First place - Mark & Loretta Rodrigues (Biscuit Ambade-chutney) and second place Sally Quadros (Cutlets)
 
Main Course category – First place – Gail Rego (chicken masala) and second place Mercy Concesso (Pork Indaad)
 
Side Dish category – First place – Edna Mascarenhas (Kube-mutlim) and second place Queenie Mendonca (Pork Sorpothel)
 
Dessert category – First place – Maya Menezes (Kheer) and second place Vissia D’ Souza (Mandaas)
 
After short break singing and fancy dress competitions took place.  Again, Larry Mascarenhas introduced another panel of judges – Rev. Fr. Henry Sequeira, Mr. James Saldanha, and Mr. Anand Menezes.  Many contestants took part in both competitions and the winners are as follows:
 
Singing competition – Age Group 1-5: Solo – Baby Nicole D’Souza first and Baba Lloyd Quadros second. Age group 6-12 Duet – Jason Mendonca and Shannon D’Souza first, Adrianna and Nicole D’Souza second. Age group 18 and above – Solo – Vanessa D’Souza first, Romana Sequeira second; Duet – Ifan and Vanessa D’Souza first, Denzil and Mercy Concesso second, and Group – Jossie Mendonca & party first.
 
Fancy Dress Competition – Age group 1-5: Solo – Baby Godlin D’Souza first, Baba Nayan Menezes second. Age group 6-12 Solo – Shawn D’Souza first, Jason Mendonca second; duet – Shannon D’Souza and Jason Mendonca first. Age group 18 and above – Solo – Jossie Mendonca first, Sally Quadros second.  Duet – Jossie & Joey Mendonca first.

During breaks in between the competitions, Denzil Concesso, Lig Martis, Larry Mascarenhas, Lilly Fernandes, Fr. Henry Sequeira entertained the crowd with Konkani songs and the crowd was thrilled to hear their melodious voice in Konkani in Chicagoland.

After the competitions audience had a chance to taste Mangalorean Food Fest.  Entries included Khanyanchi Kodi, Kubhe Mutlim, Chicken Thikka Masala, Dukra Mass, Pothrade Kodi, Maani, Mandass, Sorpothel and many other Mangalorean dishes. 

MKCA secretary, Vinod Menezes proposed the vote of thanks. Vinod thanked all the committee members, especially the event Chairperson Larry Mascarenhas, Food Committee in charge Mark Rodrigues, Stany & Vissia D’Sozua, Queenie & Jossie Mendonca, Francis & Rose Mascarenhas, Austin & Terry Prabhu, Dorothy & Godwin Rego and all the participants in food, singing and fancy dress competitions. He also thanked the chief guests, judges and the entire audience for coming and making this Konkan Fest a grand success by exhibiting their unique Mangalorean culture and heritage.  President Stan D’Souza announced the secret promoter of this program and he was none other than the event chairperson Larry Mascarenhas.  He thanked for his contribution for the Konkan fest.

Entire audience took part in singing Laudathe as part of Mangalorean tradition.  Enthusiasts danced to Konkani, English and Hindi songs until mid-night and showed their tremendous involvement in the event, which made them to remember until such event next time.

 
Anita D’Souza, Atina D’Souza and Allen Martis were the DJ’s for the program who helped the program to run smoothly.  Austin Prabhu compeered the program in Konkani and English as there was a mixed crowd in the audience. Austin Prabhu kept the audience in their toes with his powerful Konkani vocabulary.