Read full article By Nupur Roopa @ The Quint Photo Credit: Fit The Quint
Regular consumption of Millets can help you to maintain good health and safeguard against lifestyle diseases.
It was magical to watch my grandmother pat a ball of bajra dough to make a perfect roti on a hot griddle.
She flattened it smooth, applied water, expertly flipped, sprinkled some sesame seeds, and pressed lightly to embed them.
It then landed on the plate with a generous blob of homemade butter. To say it was delicious or yummy would be an injustice to its taste. The warm roti with roasted sesame seeds drizzling with butter made us smile, laugh, and happy, a heartsome experience of wholesome food.
A few years back millets formed an important part of the Indian diet. Bajra or pearl millet was an essential part of the winter diet. Other millets like jowar, ragi and sama were also consumed regularly.
These got replaced by the dominant production of rice and wheat and totally disappeared from the Indian urban platter.
Sadly, this resulted in compromising our varied and nutrient-rich diets in favour of refined grains.
It also ignored the importance of eating local food for optimum health. Slowly, the indigenous foods were neglected and were forgotten.
What History Says
Millets are grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for food and fodder. Evidence has been found that millets were cultivated in the Korean Peninsula around 3,500–2,000BC.
Yajurveda mentions foxtail millet (priyangava), Barnyard millet (aanava) and black finger millet (shyaamaka) which indicates that millets were a common food in those times.
Scientific research has proved that millets are healthy. Regular consumption of these grains can help you to maintain good health and safeguard from lifestyle diseases.
Recently, The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution, sponsored by India and supported by more than 70 countries, declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets.
