The Millet Revival Project aims to:
– Bring millets onto people’s plates in delicious and balanced ways, and help consumers understand what this means for their bodies, the farmers who grow it, and the environment around them.
– Study and document the diversity of millets across different regions in India, and the impact that growing and consuming them has on these distinct geographies.
– Create a digital repository that makes it easy for people to find those working in the millet space: consumer brands, farmers, restaurants, and experts.
To do this, the Locavore has put together four labs, each working towards strengthening storytelling and research into millets in meaningful ways through their work.
Millet Editorial Lab
Examining the past, present, and future of millets, the Editorial Lab publishes stories that explore various aspects of these hardy grains—their history in India, our culinary knowledge of them, experiences from those who grow and advocate for them, and their ties to our environment and the ongoing climate emergency. These stories could take the form of features, interviews, photo essays, recipes, and more.
We think you’ll enjoy Songs of Survival: The Cultural Memory that Kept Millets Alive, in which Sohel Sarkar finds farming songs and rituals that have sustained millets in different parts of India, and how these cultural memories linger in our lives long after the food they reference may have dwindled from our eating habits.
Meet the Editorial Lab team here. If you have a story that fits, please write to us at [email protected], with the subject line ‘MRP Pitch’, with your name, a short bio, samples of your writing, and a short paragraph outlining your story idea.
Millet Cooking Lab
Profiling the diversity of millets across India, this virtual kitchen lab of home cooks and professional chefs are busy creating a collection of millet-based recipes which are innovative but also easy to cook. The recipes have been tested to observe how different millets react to a variety of cooking methods. The main idea- to encourage people to incorporate millets into their meals, in interesting and delicious ways.
The Millet Cooking Lab is documenting millet recipes from three different perspectives:
– Documenting heritage millet recipes from across India, for example this Mixed Millet Rotla and Bajri Methi Gota.
– Adapting traditional non-millet-based recipes to create new millet recipes, for example this Foxtail Millet Chicken Biryani and Handvo with Barnyard Millet.
– And creating entirely new and innovative millet recipes, such as this Jowar Birria Taco.
Meet the Cooking Lab team here, or click here. to contribute your own recipe.
Millet Climate & Policy Lab
This lab facilitates and promotes a better understanding of the role that millets—known to be climate-resilient due to their drought tolerance and low water requirements—play in tackling the national and global agrarian and ecological crises.
Research is conducted to understand the intersections of geographical suitability, historical growing data, and yield figures regarding millets across India, aiming to enhance sustainable cultivation practices. Additionally, the lab hosts free public ‘Beyond The Plate’ sessions, interactive forums that foster discussions around different aspects of millets, ranging from historico-cultural narratives to governmental policy. The lab is also conducting a comprehensive national survey involving multiple stakeholders to gain a holistic understanding of India’s millet landscape.
Meet the Millet Climate & Policy Lab team here. If you would like to contribute, write to us at [email protected], with the subject line ‘MRP Research’, and a few lines about what you do and how we can work together.
Millet Resource Lab
Curious about the diverse initiatives and people working on millets across India?
The Millet Resource Lab has you covered. Established with the dedication of our enthusiastic volunteers, this lab has created a comprehensive open-access repository. It serves as a dynamic, constantly updated resource, detailing the myriad efforts across India aimed at promoting, distributing, and increasing the accessibility of millets. Our extensive archive includes information on farmer collectives, environmental groups, consumer brands, restaurants, and various key entities significantly contributing to the millet sector.
Meet the Millet Resource Bank team here, or contribute by filling out the form.
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