For many across the world, millets were a wholly new concept when the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations announced in March 2021 that the year 2023 would be considered as the International Year of Millets (IYM 2023) to celebrate the ancient and resilient grains. Going by the rudimentary information the FAO then put out, capturing the essence and spirit of millets—especially as embodied by the culinary and agricultural heritage of a nation like India—was a far cry. Nobody would come to know any more about millets from that one source. Thankfully, the year 2023 changed all that.
Beyond knowing that millets are nutritious and climate resilient, people’s knowledge of millets went through an immense expansion in the year 2023. The G20 Summit held in India, concluding with the mega event in Delhi attended by global leaders and their spouses, provided the nation’s millet growers as well as entrepreneurs and chefs promoting their use with immense opportunities to showcase the wide range of millets grown and celebrated across India. But even as the world got the chance to get acquainted with millets in 2023, Indians themselves rediscovered these heritage grains for what they are—ingredients that have a huge role to play in modern Indian kitchens.
So, was the impact of millets in the year 2023, designated as the International Year of Millets, both global and hyperlocal? Did it reach the masses and the elite alike? And will 2024 continue to witness a rise in the adoption of millets in diets worldwide? Slurrp caught up with experts in the Indian food industry to understand millet trends as seen this year and the expectations from it in 2024. Here is what they had to say.
Video Credit: YouTube/Chef Anahita Dhondy
Taking Millets To The Global & National Stage
If there is one renowned chef who has emerged in the national imagination as the ambassador for millets this year, it is Anahita Dhondy Bhandari. From giving the G20 First Ladies a taste of Indian millets at the G20 Summit to presenting Indian-origin millet dishes at COP 28, Dubai and the ASEAN Millet Festival in Jakarta, she has done it all to take the ancient grains global. On the other hand, through her appearance on MasterChef India and her social media stories, she has also helped Indians understand their millet heritage a little better. The work, however, has a long way to go she says.
“Millets are extremely native to our country and have been around since even before wheat or rice,” she says. “In each state and region, you will find a different kind of millet and the reason behind this is that millets do not require so much water. I just feel that despite this wide availability, there has been a disconnect. As a chef, when I learned about millets around eight years back, I took it upon myself to introduce it to more people and have that understanding myself as well. I like cooking with it because when people try it, that is where they get their confidence of actually adopting it in their homes.”
“It’s good for the farmer, it’s good for the soil, it’s good for the consumer,” she says. “I feel as a chef I am between the farmer and the consumer, and I can actually make that change happen.” This is exactly the point she also made to budding chefs in MasterChef India Season 8 this year. “I was really happy that millets had come to the MasterChef kitchen, and this is a show watched by so many people. It’s all about creating awareness, and that episode introduced all the contestants and viewers to so many millet varieties. I was really so happy with the level of creativity everyone showed.”
Chef Anahita Dhondy, Ruchi Jain and Poonam Jain at the G20 Summit, New Delhi 2023
A Sea Change In How Millets Are Seen?
So, the idea that many have that millets should only be adopted into your diet for health reasons has also seen a sea change this year. “Millets, for the Indian public, shouldn’t just be about a healthy diet or recipe innovation but also a part of cultural diversity,” says Avinash Patnaik, who is not only a chef but also an Assistant Agriculture Officer with the Government of Odisha, and has been associated with the Odisha Millets Mission since its inception. “Traditionally, in Odisha, millets are a very crucial part of the tribal community. People consume it in their everyday diet, but for many Odia people, millets come and go because of palatability. In my family, we use little millets during Ekadashi, when rice consumption isn’t allowed. So, I make this dish called Suan Khiri during this time at a personal level. At a professional level, I have worked with most millets like jowar and bajra, and have also experimented with gluten-free millet cakes and cookies made with ragi.”
For Ruchi Jain, founder of Taru Naturals, a homegrown brand that supports small-scale farmers, the shift that has been the legacy of 2023 is through the value addition that chefs and entrepreneurs have made. “You have to focus on value-added millet products to be able to sell those millets that people don’t know much about yet,” Jain explains. “People don’t know much about barnyard millets, so we make noodles with them. We do kodo millet noodles and many millet-based vermicelli, pancake mixes, laddoos, energy bars, etc. So, we don’t just focus on whole millets and millet flours, but provide more options that people can adopt more easily.”
Quite like Chef Anahita, Jain too has had the opportunity to present her work with millets at the G20 Summit as well as the ASEAN Millet Festival—and says that these opportunities have brought the Indian farmer a lot of the limelight they deserve. Jain also says that this increase in interest has also prompted many people to start their millet start-ups, farmer conglomerates are coming up with their own brands and the government is wholeheartedly supporting these moves. “On a daily basis, just because it’s a trend, people are figuring out the millet recipes online. So, the consumer is not lost and there is also a big revival of traditional recipes that we are seeing now. With the awareness now at its peak, this is the right time to make the shift,” she says.
Suan Khiri by Chef Avinash Patnaik, An Odia Delicacy
Adopting Millets: Fine-Dining To Daily Diets
Apart from individuals like Chef Anahita, Chef Avinash and Jain, restaurateurs and hotel groups in India are also trying their best to feature millets in fine-dining setups to promote their use across the masses. The G20 Summit witnessed luxury hotels across Delhi and Mumbai introducing millet-special menus for delegates and diners, but the move, for some, has extended beyond the global event. “I have seen hotels and restaurants in Mumbai, Lucknow, etc also introduce more millets to their menus, even breakfast menus,” Chef Anahita says. “I think hotels catch on to these trend changes much faster because they have huge operations, but even restaurants are trying to make the change now.”
For example, Palash Ghosh, Executive Chef at Taj Hotel & Convention Centre, Agra, reveals that their curated Millet Menu was introduced at Daawat-E-Nawaab and featured dishes such as Bajra ke Raab Soup with jowar crisp (Pearl Millet), Rajgira corn kebab (Amaranth coated corn patty and Ragi crusted fish with Alleppey curry (Finger millet crusted fish served with raw mango coconut curry). “Luxury restaurants and hotels should curate innovative dishes consisting of good quality millets with premium ingredients,” he explains. “The guests, especially international guests should be provided with information about the different types of millets, their textures and flavours through various communication channels.”
And yet, Chef Anahita, Chef Avinash and Jain all agree that sudden introduction of millets into your diet is simply not a great idea. “If you have not been eating millets since forever, your body is going to take time to get used to them,” Chef Anahita says. So, don’t just jump on the millet wagon because everyone is doing it. It’s not a fad, it’s actually a much healthier way of life. So, it has to be incorporated very slowly and very practically.” She recommends adding millets to one meal to begin with and starting with smaller grains like foxtail and little millets, and flours, like ragi flour. Kodo, proso, jowar and bajra may be more difficult to digest so incorporate them slowly.
“Just because we know that millet is good for our health doesn’t mean that we have to suddenly bring it into our lifestyle,” Chef Avinash says. “Every human has a natural, cultural dietary system and when you include these foods all of a sudden in your diet your body doesn’t respond immediately or positively to it. Whatever our local millets are, the ones that have hereditarily been part of our cultural diets should be first brought back into regular use, and then you can think about adding others slowly and gradually.”