good morning , have got good exposure in millets…as i did so much of work in millets and its value added products.
Hello!
Please find attached the updates for September 2023.
Millet Revival Project_Report_ September 2023.pdf (49.1 KB)
Below are also some thoughts for the month -
Millet Cooking Workshop at Native Bombay
On the 3rd of September, we had the pleasure of hosting an engaging ‘Elevate Your Millet Cooking’ workshop in collaboration with Native Bombay. We kicked off the event with a refreshing ‘Bajra ki Raab,’ a traditional pearl millet drink from Rajasthan. Chef Bhairav, with his remarkable sense of humour and storytelling, shared anecdotes about his personal connection to food, his hometown, and the exclusive millet-inspired menus he curates for Native Bombay. The cooking workshop unfolded with a demo-style presentation of three innovative millet dishes: Nachni ki Shami, Bhatti ki Kukdi, and Kutki Phirni.
What made this #TLworkshop truly remarkable was the intimate setting, allowing participants to dive deep into @ChefBhairav’s live demonstrations. Each participant was encouraged to engage, ask questions, and seek clarifications on the spot. To further elevate the experience, we served tasting samples of the three millet dishes showcased by Chef Bhairav, complemented by two delightful surprise millet creations: Masli Dangar Kodu and Rajgiri Seekh Kebab.
Adding a touch of indulgence to the evening, the Native Bombay team crafted an enticing millet-based cocktail menu, inviting participants to savour these libations while continuing their culinary journey. To enhance millet awareness, we also set up a unique Millet Experience Grove, where Locavores interacted with millet grains in an engaging format, akin to exploring dating profiles, but for millets!
Millet Beer Project and Interview with Great State Aleworks
You might be familiar with malt beers, but have you ever tried millet-based brews? Great State Aleworks, a Pune-based brewery, is on a fascinating journey with their Millet Beer Project. They aim to create unique beers that showcase the versatility of local Indian millet varieties. In our latest piece on The Locavore, we interviewed Shivani Unakar, Project Coordinator of the Millet Beer Project, to learn more about Great State Aleworks’ commitment to championing local grains and producers and their unique approach to encouraging millet consumption. Read the full interview here - Beyond Malt: Discovering the secret to millet beers
Millet Revival Project Team
Over the months of August and September, we focused a lot of our energies on building capacity for our Millet Revival Project Team and I am happy to announce that we have successfully created a robust team that has been onboarded and the incredible work we have planned to do in the second phase of the Millet Revival Project is already underway! We have the Climate & Policy Lab that is looking at millets from an academic research perspective, while the Editorial Lab is focusing on nuanced storytelling around millets. We have the Resources Lab dedicated to creating an open-access repository of stakeholders in the millet landscape while the Cooking Lab is blending culinary tradition and innovation to make millets more exciting for the modern Indian palate!
Thank you, and have a great weekend!
Hello!
Please find attached the updates for October 2023.
TL Projects_Master Reports - MRP October 2023.pdf (49.1 KB)
Below are some thoughts for the month -
We have some exciting news! There’s a new series called #KnowYourDesiMillets, diving into the world of millet varieties in India. First up is Finger Millet, or Ragi, known for its unique appearance and nutritional powerhouse status. Popular in Karnataka, it stars in dishes like ‘Ragi Mudde’ and various treats like ragi bhakri and naachni ladoos. Fun fact: Karnataka dominates 64.8% of India’s finger millet production.
Next is Sorghum, aka jowar, with diverse names across India. Its high protein, fibre, and nutrient content make it versatile—use it like rice, mill it into flour, or pop it like popcorn. In Karnataka, relish jolada roti with spicy curries. Maharashtra & Karnataka lead with 57.2% of India’s sorghum. Tip: Soak sorghum grains for 8-10 hours, and for dough, use xanthan gum, flaxseed powder, or psyllium husk. Exciting culinary adventures await with these Desi millets!
With Diwali around the corner, we couldn’t resist sharing a new #TLrecipe with you – the classic dahi vada! But, with a hearty millet twist. Conceptualised by Ankita Jain, a chef volunteer at the Cooking Lab of our Millet Revival Project, this dahi vada combines barnyard millet and urad dal. The combination of grain and dal makes the dish nutritious while retaining the classic flavours we associate with dahi vada. The barnyard millet vadas turn out soft and spongy and when soaked in a refreshing curd base, make for the perfect summer treat. Check the recipe here.
Our second recipe for October is this foxtail jadoh recipe, with tungtap and salad, that has been developed by Sayani Sengupta from the Cooking Lab of our Millet Revival Project. Jadoh is a traditional breakfast delicacy from Meghalaya, commonly savoured by the Khasi community of the state. Inspired by tales of her older brother travelling and trekking in the region, Sayani translates his memories into a delicious and hearty meal. While jadoh is traditionally prepared with rice, Sayani incorporates nutty foxtail millet to the dish, offering a unique texture and taste.
For many traditional farming practices and systems, the threat of extinction is severe. So, how do they persist against these odds? In our latest feature, independent journalist and writer Sohel Sarkar writes on farming songs and rituals that have sustained millets in different parts of India, even as millets themselves have vanished from people’s diets.
Before the recent mainstreaming of millets in the food system, the native grain varieties were overlooked, deemed unprofitable and inconvenient as crops. But still, millet-growing communities across the subcontinent have remembered, through fractured memories, song verses, aromas, and rituals, the experiences of cultivating, grinding, and eating millet grains.
Through the piece, Sohel highlights the importance of these traditional knowledge systems that live on through songs, to the survival of ancient millet grains today. In conversations around millets, there is a need to prioritize the custodians of millet grains – the growing communities – and their knowledge. We’re also thrilled to share with you a few traditional millet songs performed by indigenous farming communities across the country. Tune into them and read the full piece, ‘Songs of Survival: The Cultural Memory that Kept Millets Alive’ on our website.
In October, we also launched the Millet Revival Project newsletter and you can read the first edition here, and sign up for it here.
Thank you, and have a great weekend ahead!
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Hello!
I am Chandrika, from Gram Vikas’ Communication Team, and I wanted to share my experience from The Locavore’s Millet Meetup last weekend at Cafe 16 in Bhubaneswar. It was a wonderful and interactive event, bringing together a mix of people—stakeholders, experts, and fellow millet enthusiasts. We had engaging speaker sessions and discussions that really dove into the world of millets in our state.
The event featured some amazing speakers, like Mr. Anil Kumar Dhir, Convener of India National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), who talked about how changes in tribal food habits are affecting health. Debajani Das from Trishakti Federation of Mission Shakti shared insights about the popular Millet Shakti Cafes, a cool collaboration by the Odisha Millet Mission. She mentioned that Bhubaneswar already boasts three of these cafes!
Then there’s Mr. Tapas Kumar Ray, an author advocating for millets from Farm to Plate for over ten years, who highlighted the exciting business opportunities millets offer.
The discussions were buzzing with energy among the expert speakers, government officials, local businesses, and millet enthusiasts.
The Locavore’s Millet Revival Project, along with the Rainmatter Foundation, did a fantastic job demystifying millet cooking and sparking meaningful conversations, acknowledging just how important millets are in our modern lives.
Later in the evening, local chefs spilled the beans on their creative millet adventures, experimenting with various flavour combos. Not only were the millet-based dishes packed with nutrients, but they also set our taste buds tingling. Home chefs and volunteers brought a feast of delicious millet-based dishes to the meetup, including Kalakand, Kheer, Burnt Basque Cheesecake, Millet Cookies, Foxtail Millet Salad, traditional Odia-pithas, millet-based brownies, and a whole bunch of other exciting dishes!
#MilletRevivalProject
Thank you!
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Hello food enthusiasts, change-makers, and curious minds!
We are thrilled to present another thought-provoking edition of our #BeyondThePlate series under the Millet Revival Project with Rainmatter Foundation.
Titled “Reimagining the PDS for Food Sovereignty”, this discussion will look at millets through the lens of food security, while focusing on the Public Distribution System. In India, PDS is an initiative to provide food grains to the poor at subsidized prices. However, the main food grains that are part of the PDS scheme are rice and wheat. Through this discussion, we hope to explore the implications of introducing millets into the PDS, highlight enduring challenges and identify solutions.
What’s different about this Beyond The Plate session is a film screening we’re hosting in collaboration with the Deccan Development Society. The film—Onwards to Food Sovereignty: The Alternative Public Distribution System of DDS—will be followed by an introduction to the Community Grain Fund in Zaheerabad region, Telangana, a project undertaken by the Deccan Development Society.
Join us tomorrow, 30th January, from 3:30 to 5:00 pm. To sign up for a free spot, fill out this registration form link: https://forms.gle/S7cGgRFJBZJ5QLJj6
We can’t wait to see you there!
Hello,
I am back with our updates for January 2024! A month into the new year, and we are slowly being able to see the fruits of our labour.
In January, the Editorial Lab worked on an interview with Dr. Dorian Fuller. Dr. Fuller is an archaeobotanist at the University College London. The interview looks at the history of millet cultivation in India during early civilisation, how millets like jowar and bajra travelled to India, why India is a hotbed for a variety of millets, and what we can learn from past agricultural practices to take into an uncertain climate future. You can read the article here: What Can Charred Plant Remains Tell Us About the History of Millet Cultivation? I am urging you to read this piece, because it reminds us why millets have endured, despite everything, and why, therefore, millets might just be one of the things to help us in our increasingly uncertain future.
We sent out two MRP newsletters. ‘Congee at the end of winter’, which gave our readers links to the millet congee recipe, as well as the link to the story we published in December Shared With Elephants: Growing Ragi in Harmony with Local Wildlife. In Seeds of Change: Sowing a Future with you, we invited our readers to engage with our work in small, meaningful ways, like switching to millets for a few meals, volunteering with us, and attending our Beyond the Plate session to learn more about an alternative public distribution system (with jowar) in rural Telangana that was spearheaded by local women along with the Deccan Development Society. Should you wish to read our newsletter, sign up here. Most of these are written by Mukta, our Editorial Lead, and, they remind me how you can find the poetic in the most mundane of things if you care enough.
We have also been collaborating with India Development Review to re-publish some of our stories that are relevant to their audience. This month, our November story, ‘Millets in the PDS—Has It Been Successful?’ was translated into Hindi and published on the IDR Hindi platform. This enabled the story to reach newer audiences, people we have not been able to reach before, and for us, this has been an incredibly important way of shifting the needle towards a climate-first future.
We published three recipes–sama chaal aur khus khus ki kheer, thalipeeth, and mandia pej. The mandia pej recipe was shared with us during our Bhubaneshwar workshop. Have you tried any of our recipes before? This one, the mandia pej is really simple, and I hope this photograph encourages you to at least consider making it!
If you do like experimenting with food, I am happy to inform you that over December and January, the Cooking Lab has been working to craft a diverse array of recipes, from different regions across India, showcasing the incredible versatility of millets in various culinary traditions. Here are some of the recipes they have developed, that we will be publishing over this quarter:
- Bajra Potato Bhakhri from Haryana: A roti made by combining Bajra and potato
- Jonna Soup with Jowar from Telangana: A hearty soup featuring Jowar and seasonal vegetables.
- Proso Dhuska: A savoury deep-fried puri or kachori often enjoyed with chutneys, from Jharkhand.
- Dudhaur from Jharkhand: A commonly enjoyed dessert where rice cooked in milk is shaped into balls, deep-fried, and soaked in syrup.
- Bihari Chura Matar: A traditional poha variant with peas, which has been recreated with millet flakes.
- Assamese Ragi Malpua: A deep-fried sweet dish from Assam, showcasing the incorporation of Ragi in traditional recipes.
- Assamese Ketli Pitha: A steamed Pitha made in a tea kettle, a much-enjoyed Assamese tea-time snack and breakfast food.
- Multani Proso Cheena: A dessert similar in concept to kheer but traditionally made with Proso millet, considered a lost recipe from the Multani community.
- Naga Galho: A porridge usually made with meat and rice, but created here with Proso.
- Manipuri Black Rice Pudding: An innovative take on the black rice kheer of Manipur, that is being created in the style of a pudding and served in cubes.
- Goan Poee: A traditional bread from Goa, but made by incorporating millets into the recipe.
On the 30th of January, the Climate & Policy Lab organised a Beyond the Plate panel discussion titled ‘Reimagining the PDS for Food Sovereignty’. This BTP was an organisational deep dive into Deccan Development Society’s work in Zaheerbad region in Telangana, where they started a decentralised, locally-run alternative to the PDS called the Community Grain Fund, which was based primarily on sorghum, rather than rice and wheat. The panellists were Laya from DDS, P. Suryakala and Tuljamma who were both leading this project. This has been one of our repeated endeavours to highlight the work of farmers across India, by sharing our platform and audience with them. Hearing these women talk about their experience of how as a community they developed one of the most prolific systems to share resources, and paved the way for food sovereignty has been a powerful reminder of why we must keep trying, despite the challenges, to build a better world.
Finally, I am happy to announce that we have launched our Millet Revival Project Website. I will leave you with a few lines from Mukta, our Millet Revival Project Editorial Lead, to tell you why you should visit it. She writes, “Millets aren’t called ancient grains for nothing; they have been around a long time. So why us, why this, why now? We dreamt up the project because we imagined the possibilities and interconnectedness of things. The way, sometimes, a good dream does. In it, millets weren’t just a grain. They were seeds, songs, wildlife, women, and whole ecosystems. A way to eat, grow, and nourish ourselves. A window into food that could, perhaps, light up a pathway into a better future.”
MRP January 2024 Quantitative Report.pdf (59.4 KB)
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At The Locavore, we’re thrilled to be bringing our Millet Revival Project to you, in collaboration with Rainmatter Foundation, through a series of 2 engaging and exciting events that put the spotlight on millets.
We invite you to embark on a journey with us through the Millet Revival Project, aimed at unravelling the secrets of cooking with millets and understanding their positive impact on our ecology. Our mission, with these events, is to seamlessly integrate millets into your diets while fostering meaningful conversations around their resilience and climate-first aspects!
The lineup includes two incredible events:
Mingle with Millets: An Immersive Culinary Workshop is happening on Saturday, 24th February, at the CEEW Cafeteria in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. This free-of-cost session, which will be an eclectic showcase of millet recipes and engaging narratives, combining cooking with storytelling, is a collaboration between CEEW, The Locavore, and the Rainmatter Foundation.
Event Details:
Date: Saturday, 24th February, 2024
Time: 4 pm - 7: 30 pm
Venue: The Cafeteria at CEEW, ISID Campus 4, Vasant Kunj Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj II, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, Delhi 110070
Google Maps: Link
Entry: Free
Sign Up: Reserve your spot by filling out this form
Back To The Future: Delhi’s first ever Millet Mixer is happening on 25th February, at Fig & Maple in Greater Kailash, New Delhi.
Here, we’ll feature a heartwarming screening of “Jowar Gatha” by SPS Media, followed by a film discussion with director Laxminarayan. You’ll also get to participate in #TheLocavoreShuffle, ChefTZac’s iconic Millet Pub Quiz, as well as indulge in mouthwatering millet-based snacks by Chef Radhika Khandelwal!
Event Details:
Date: Sunday, 25th February, 2024
Time: 5 pm onwards
Venue: Fig & Maple, M-27, E Block Rd, Block M, Greater Kailash II, Greater Kailash, New Delhi, Delhi 110048
Google Maps: Link
Entry: *Paid Event (includes mouthwatering millet salads and snacks). Beverages will be charged separately on an a la carte basis.
*We along with Rainmatter Foundation believe in inclusivity and want to make this event accessible to everyone. If you are interested in attending but the cost is a barrier, please reach out to us. We have options available on our registration form for those who may not be able to afford the event.
Sign Up: Reserve your spot by filling out this form
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Thanks Sreyasi. Glad to see this.
From the qualitative report, the part on:
“… these include a promising business collaboration between Ms Debajani Das and Mr. Priyadarshini from Pranaam Retail. This connection led to a solution for enhancing the shelf life and packaging of Ms. Das’s millet products. Progress has been swift, with Mr. Priyadarshini visiting her processing unit and starting the packaging process.”
Do we know what the new/improvised packaging is that is increasing the shelf life of millets? It seems that this is a common problem, and would be good to know how different folks are addressing it, so it’s easy info available to all.
“To reflect on some areas of improvement, we feel that the ongoing #KnowYourDesiMillets series on our social media might need a slightly different approach, as the engagement rates haven’t been consistent. While posts on little millet, finger millet, and pearl millet did really well, some of the others should have received more eyeballs. To solve for this, we’re considering repackaging this series on social media once the millet profiles are up on the MRP website.”
Am surprised too - personally find this to be very useful… might it help to tag/collab orgs like Wassan, Pradan, DDS, MSSRF, ICAR, CSE etc?
On behalf of The Locavore’s Millet Revival Project, I am thrilled to present another thought-provoking edition of our Beyond the Plate series.
Beyond the Plate attempts to foster conversation around millets, bringing together agricultural, policy and culinary experts. In this panel discussion titled “Making Millets Desirable: Millets in Food Establishments” we shall explore the role that restaurants, food brands and businesses play in shaping people’s perceptions, tastes and appreciation for millets.
Our panellists include:
Raghav Simha - Co-Founder of Project Hum, a restaurant in Mumbai focusing on delicious salads and bowls, with a millet-forward menu
Umang Bhattacharyya - Co-Founder of Slurrp Farms and Millé, which create tasty millet-based snacks
Borra Srinivas Rao - Managing Director of Manyam Grains, which works with millet processing technology and supports tribal farmers with fair market access for their produce
Debajani Das - Millet Entrepreneur from the Trishakti Federation of the Millet Shakti Department of OMM.
Join us on 21st March (Thursday), from 6:30 to 7:30 PM for an exciting conversation on the changing millet landscape. To sign up for a free spot, fill out this registration form link: https://forms.gle/FPVyNAHtSbvStLKD8
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Hello!
I am writing to share our Millet Revival Project highlights for March 2024.
In March, the Millet Editorial Lab focused on commissioning multiple pieces concurrently for a steady flow of content. The collaboration with The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) led to the publication of an excerpt from “Millet Mantra,” which looked at a self-help group in Odisha and how they process ragi flour that is made into laddoos for Anganwadi centres. Take a look at the recipe for the Ragi Laddoo, shared with us by the Odisha Millet Mission. This piece, Flour Power: Women-led Millet Value Chains Improve Local Nutrition by the CEEW, narrates the story of tenacious women entrepreneurs and collectives, and how processing ragi into flour paved the way for their independence, and that of the district’s to better nutrition.
For our other piece for March, Kutki Gets Ready Just with Dew, a field story from Madhya Pradesh, our writer sourced a recipe for little millet rice from a farmer she interacted with. Travelling through Chhindwara district in India’s central peninsula, Shirin Mehrotra learnt about why kutki (little millet) needs little water to grow, the most common way it is eaten, and why it has disappeared from the diets of Adivasi communities here.
Here are the recipes we published this month:
Foxtail and Mutton Pitha - a savory pancake from Odisha
Foxtail Ganji Annam with Fish Pickle - a fermented rice porridge from Andhra Pradesh
Jowar ki Raab - a millet flour and yoghurt drink from Rajasthan
In March, the Climate & Policy Lab conducted a Beyond the Plate session titled ‘Making Millets Desirable: Millets in Food Establishments’ to explore the role that restaurants and snacks companies play in exposing people to potentially new ingredients and shaping one’s tastes. The panellists included Raghav Simha from Project Hum, Umang Bhattacharyya from Wholsum Foods, Borra Srinivas Rao from Manyam Grains and Debjani Das from Trishakti SHG.
Attaching below our monthly reports below, for more details! Hope you have a great week ahead!
TL MRP_Monthly Master Reports - MRP March 2024.pdf (69.0 KB)
MRP Qualitative Report_March 2024.pdf (46.9 KB)
Hello!
In April 2024, the Millet Revival Project (MRP) witnessed significant progress in its mission to promote millet cultivation and consumption, driven by collaborative efforts across its various labs. Within the Editorial Lab, a key milestone was achieved by publishing an insightful interview featuring Mr. Laxminarayan Devda, a farmer-filmmaker whose work shed light on the cultural and agricultural significance of jowar in rural Madhya Pradesh. The decision to collaborate with Samaj Pragati Sahayog (SPS) for screenings and discussions around Mr. Devda’s film “Jowar Gatha” was strategic, aiming to leverage existing networks and amplify the project’s impact.
Conducted in Hindi, this interview marked a deliberate effort by the team to ensure inclusivity and reach a wider audience in regional languages, aligning with MRP’s commitment to community engagement. Also, this marks an important milestone for The Locavore, it is our first Hindi publication. Please read it in Hindi here, and English here.
Meanwhile, in the Cooking Lab, volunteers dedicated themselves to experimenting with traditional recipes from Sikkim and Tripura, recognizing the importance of preserving culinary diversity and promoting sustainable cooking practices. Through hands-on learning and collaboration, participants expanded their culinary skills and contributed to the documentation and preservation of indigenous food cultures, supporting MRP’s broader objectives of cultural preservation.
Additionally, here are the recipes we published this month:
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Barnyard Millet Mutton Pantheras with Aam Kashundi by Swati Bhaduri. Traditionally, a pantheras (a savoury crepe), is made with a mix of refined flour and eggs, and filled with minced meat. A deep-fried, tea-time snack popularised in colonial era Bengal, Swati has reimagined it for our times as a healthier, just as delicious appetiser using barnyard millet.
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Kodo Millet and Mango Pancakes by Sharada Sriram. Mangoes, coconut milk, and kodo millet flour come together to create a perfectly flavoured summer breakfast in these fluffy pancakes.
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Jowar Poha by Tejaswi Rathod. Poha is a breakfast dish eaten across large parts of central and western India. Traditionally made with flattened rice flakes, poha is usually cooked with onions, green chillies, and peanuts. Regional variations ensure that it tastes just a little different if you have it in say, Indore, Pune, or Ahmedabad. This version, which replaces the rice with jowar flakes, is just as satisfying.
Do let us know below, if you try any of them!
Simultaneously, the Resource Lab experienced a surge in activity, driven by a strategic focus on enhancing user engagement and feedback mechanisms. By conducting in-depth interviews and leveraging collaborative platforms such as Miro, volunteers sought to gather valuable insights and feedback to inform iterative improvements and optimize the project’s impact. This participatory approach not only ensures the relevance and effectiveness of MRP’s interventions but also fosters a sense of ownership and collective responsibility among stakeholders, strengthening the project’s long-term sustainability and resilience.
Beyond the labs, MRP’s outreach efforts continued to gain momentum, with collaborations and events serving as catalysts for community mobilization and advocacy. Partnerships with organizations like Nair on Fire and participation in initiatives such as the pan-India birthday potluck underscored the project’s commitment to fostering cross-sectoral collaboration and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities.
Looking ahead, MRP’s emphasis on reflection and collaboration, exemplified by the upcoming town hall meeting, reflects a commitment to adaptive learning and continuous improvement. By providing a platform for dialogue and knowledge exchange, this gathering will not only strengthen internal cohesion and alignment but also facilitate the co-creation of strategies and initiatives that resonate with the needs and aspirations of diverse stakeholders. In this way, MRP remains steadfast in its pursuit of promoting sustainable food systems and fostering inclusive development, one millet at a time.
The detailed reports are attached below. Thank you and have a great week ahead!
TL MRP_Monthly Master Reports - April 2024.pdf (66.4 KB)
MRP Qualitative Report_April 2024.pdf (39.0 KB)