International Year of Millets 2023: Forgotten Indian staple, new superfood for health & Earth

Note: The podcast was recorded on Jan 20, 2023UN has declared 2023 as the International Year of MilletsMillets make an appearance as far back as the Indian Bronze AgeThey are mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts Yajurveda and Sushruta SamhitaWhat are millets? What are the health benefits of millets? How are millets good for the environment?All you want to know about the new superfood that has always been part of Indian dietThe United Nations has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets. Let’s take a closer look at what millets are and what’s their connection to India.Did you know that millets make an appearance as far back as 1500 BC, that is in the Indian Bronze Age? They also get a mention in the ancient Sanskrit text, Yajurveda, as well as the Sushruta Samhita.Kalidas, who lived around the 4th or 5th AD, in his legendary masterpiece Abhigyan Shakuntalam, talks of Rishi Kanva pouring foxtail millet or kangni, while bidding farewell to Shakuntala in Dushyanta's court.More recently, in the sixteenth century, Mughal emperor Jahangir in his autobiography Tuzk-e-Jahangiri talks about laziza, a kind of khichdi he encountered in Gujarat. Laziza was a mixture of bajra and peas cooked together.Yes, millets, the wonder grain of India, have existed since prehistoric times.In fact, over 3,000 years. From gods, kings to commoners, it’s been the staple grain for the Indian sub-continent till just 50-odd years ago when wheat and rice managed to nudge it off our tables.Pushpesh Pant, food historian and former JNU professor, talks about the different types of millets in India."Try to plot millets on a map of India and you’d see that each region in India has a favourite millet of its own," he says. "You go to Uttarakhand and you would have madua. You come to Karnataka and you have a very close cousin called ragi, which they call mudde. They just grind it into flour and boil it in water. They shape them into balls, sort of rum balls, and gobble them either with jaggery or little salt. But when you come to the arid desert area of Rajasthan, the millet here is not ragi, it is bajra. So, you have bajre ki roti, bajre ki khichdi, bajre ki rabri, which is not a sweet but savoury drink. Then you go southwards and enter the hinterlands of Maharashtra like the Vidarbha and Marathwada region, the millet changes and it is jowar or bali there."So, What Are Millets?Millets are small-grained cereal food crops. They are popularly called nutri-cereals as they provide most of the nutrients required for normal functioning of the human body.Dr SK Gupta, principal scientist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics, a research institute working on millets, says: "Earlier, millets were termed as coarse grain but today they are called nutri cereals. They are considered as the future crops as they are climate resilient and rich in nutrients"Brief History Of MilletsMillets originated in Asia and Africa. In fact, the proso millet is one of the oldest human foods and believed to be the first domesticated cereal grain. It’s called cheenaka in Sanskrit, a word that is still in use today, though slightly shortened, to cheena.By the Middle Ages, millet had become the main staple grain in Europe as well, and grown more widely than wheat. In fact, in the Old Testament, millet is mentioned as a grain for making bread.It was a staple of the Sumerians and a treasured plant grown in the hanging gardens of Babylon.Don’t take our word for it. There’s plenty of scientific evidence to show that millets have been around forever: foxtail millet, better known as kangni in India, has been found in archaeological sites in Rojdi in Saurashtra, which dates it to the pre-Harappan period.Excavations in Harappan settlements at Shikarpur in Kutch have also found evidence of millets, putting it around the 2500-2200 BC. The late Harappan levels in Punjab also show the existence of millets, which makes it around 1900-1400 BC.That makes it more than 5,000 years old.Forgotten SuperfoodMillets are divided into major and minor millets: you have jowar, also called sorghum, and bajra, called pearl millet in English. These are the major millets.The minor millets are finger millet, which is ragi or mandua, foxtail millet or kangni, little millet, kodo millet and proso millet, which we know is also called cheena. It’s also known as the common millet in English.Millets require very little water as compared to rice and wheat and are considered drought tolerant crops.Benefits of millets The benefits of millets are Immense -- especially the high fibre content, which plays a major role in reducing the risk of diabetes and other related diseases. Millets act as a prebiotic, and hydrate our colon to keep us from being constipated. The high levels of tryptophan in millet produce serotonin, which is calming to our moods.That’s not all. Niacin in millet helps lower cholesterol while millet consumption decreases triglycerides and C-reactive protein, which helps in preventing cardiovascular diseases.All millet varieties show high antioxidant activity. Millet is gluten free and non-allergenic. It also has iron, zinc, folic acid and calcium.So if it’s such a wonder grain, why don’t we eat it any more? Well, blame it on our single-minded pursuit of rice and wheat cultivation.Till even 50 years ago, millets were a part of our food basket, featuring as porridge, khichdi or roti.How millets were forgottenThe fall of millets began from the late 1960s when rice and wheat became available in large quantities at an affordable price. With the availability of high yielding varieties of rice and wheat as part of the Green Revolution, their cultivation was ramped up as it became more profitable, though at the cost of grains like millet.While wheat spread to non-conventional areas of eastern and southern India, rice cultivation spread to western India. This was further supported by the availability of subsidised fertilizers, larger areas coming under irrigation due to dams, and so on.Later on, government schemes to provide rice and wheat at highly subsidized rates ensured faster disappearance of millets from all kitchens.Of course, convenience of cooking and tastes also made an impact. Making rotis from millets has always been a tougher task compared to making atta or wheat roti, as millets are gluten-free.And of course, polished rice is better tasting than the fibre and antioxidant rich millets. It’s a point that Professor Pant also agrees with.Millets are good for the planetMillets are not only good for us, but also for the planet.The groundwater level in India has declined by 61 per cent between 2007 and 2017. Excess extraction of groundwater is to blame for the decline in groundwater level in wells in India, according to the Central Ground Water Board under the Ministry of Water Resources.It has been reported that in many parts of the country, the water table is declining at the rate of 1–2 metre per year.Millets, though, have a low water footprint, and are able to survive in the hottest, driest climates. This is expected to be important in coping with climate change.Of course, there’s prejudice against millets. According to Professor Pant, the very hardiness of millets is one reason why it’s not coveted.The good news is that millets are making a comeback. Their inclusion as a superfood, the fantastic range of benefits from the grain as well as its potential to be a cash crop for farmers have given millets a push like never before.Millets in your dietFrom featuring in breakfast cereals to noodles to traditional dishes like khakra and bajre ki roti, millets are back in the reckoning.In cities like Bengaluru and Pune, there has been interest in brewing beer with various types of millets. In a modern twist to the ancient grain, bajra is being turned into fine ale by using modern brewing techniques.Beers, interestingly, are typically made from malted barley and wheat. Dr Gupta of ICRISAT also thinks millets could form a wonderful base for brewing. Beer, or wine, from millet is not new, of course. Professor Pant recalls how millets are the base of a famous beverage in Ladakh and other states.Chhang, a beer made from millets, has been widely consumed across the Himalayas, from Tibet to Nepal and Sikkim, for a long time. The Lepcha community of Sikkim calls the drink chi and offers it to the gods during religious festivals. It is often served as a welcome drink.The recipe for chhang is simple: the drink is made from ragi or mandua. This is boiled, dried into cakes and fermented for a couple of months.The fermented grain is served in a bamboo jar which is filled up to the brim. It is consumed by adding warm water into it from time to time, making the drink perfect for harsh winters. Chhang tastes like ale and warms up the body.In Nepal, chhang is known as tongba, and is quite popular. In fact, there is a Tongba chowk or square in Dhankuta in Nepal, with a larger-than-life statue of the bamboo mug and straw it’s served in.So the next time you go grocery shopping, pick up that packet of jowar, bajra or ragi. Mix it with your wheat to make a healthier roti, or just use it to make your breakfast porridge. Idlis and dosas come out great when made with millets, and when mixed with protein, it’s a dynamite of a dish.Audio production: Prateek Kapoor