Read full article By Shahid AKHter @ ETHealthWorld Photo Credit SlurrpFarm
Millet is a family of grains and each one of them has their own unique characteristics. Foxtail millet is high in protein and as amazing as quinoa. Ragi is a fantastic weaning food and has 10 times the amount of calcium as wheat and rice. Similarly, there are gaon, proso millet, Kodo millet and so on.
Millet comeback:
Millets have been around for millennia. They’ve been growing not just in India but they grow in Africa as well. Somewhere in the last 3-4 decades, they’ve disappeared off the plate. Different continents have different grains, like the Peruvians of South America, had quinoa and teff. There are many grains that have been forgotten because of the industrialization of wheat, rice, and corn.
Each continent has its own food ecosystem & food history as to why their ancient grain went away. Quinoa is a great example because this is a Peruvian grain that was eaten by Peruvian farmers. These grains are tremendously nutritious and with the help of the right marketing and being able to tell the story of the grain, they are now on a plate around the world. Even in India, people are buying it and are proud to serve it in their dinner parties.
Millet is a family of grains and each one of them has their own unique characteristics. Foxtail millet is high in protein and as amazing as quinoa. Ragi is a fantastic weaning food and has 10 times the amount of calcium as wheat and rice. Similarly, there are gaon, proso millet, Kodo millet and so on.
Millet market:
So, millet per se is as the market categories, such as- the breakfast segment, the baby cereal segment, and the snack segment. All of which millets are put into and replaces corn, wheat, and rice as just more nutritious grains to these segments.
Globally, each one of these segments is multi-billion dollar segments. Therefore, it is an opportunity to come and then disrupt the existing categories which have seen only one type of product for a very long time. Certainly, the next decade is going to see an explosion of brands working with these interesting grains to deliver nutrition and not just a product.
Millet: Your interest
When Shauravi and I started Slurrp Farm, we wanted to build India’s most loved kids food brand but we also wanted to build an organic wholesome kids food company. Our search led us finally back to our own kitchens and we discovered that the answer lies very close to home actually.
We landed square on ragi which is an amazing first food for children and very high in calcium hence, ‘self-fortified’ and more importantly, it’s born organically. These grains require very little water, so they are super- climate-friendly. It doesn’t require input and I always like to call it “a born organic crop”. It’s how we ended up in a millet space and it has been a joy to discover millets and how we could use it.
First, it started as a weaning food and as our children grew, we made dosas, pancakes, cookies with it and when they go to school, we make snacks with it. They are versatile grains and you can make all kinds of things with them.
Slurrp Farm: Journey so far
Slurrp Farm makes products for young children. We make baby cereals, ragi cookie, oat banana cookie, millet dosas which include beautiful pink beetroot dosas and spinach dosas, pancake mixes which is a banana choco-chip pancake and a chocolate pancake and we make snack packs which are handy packs that go nicely into school tiffin boxes.
Reviving millet: Challenges
The reason millets went off the plate is because they were forgotten. In the South, ragi has not really left the plate, hence it left more urban plate rather than rural. So, our job is to remind the people that they don’t have to look far, and just need to look at the way our grandmother ate. In fact, we have a rule at Slurrp Farm which is ‘we make products just the way you make at home and if your grandmother didn’t eat it you shouldn’t either.’
India has some of the worst health outcomes even worse than sub-Sahara and Africa. We have more stunted, undernourished, and obese children and people called it the double-barrelled problem because you have problems of the west and problems of the developing nations.
When these kids grow up, they turn into diabetic or have cardiovascular diseases, etc. This demographic dividend is not going to give unless something drastically changes in the way we eat. Most products are made with three things maida, dalda, and sugar with lots of artificial ingredients, colours, and flavours. Something and somewhere has gone wrong in the way we are feeding ourselves and this has to change.
Slurrp Farm: Future plans
Slurrp Farm sells across 400 stores both in India and the UAE and we are also available online. We have big plans for these grains and we want to take them global. We would like to see them on shelves across the world and that’s what we are going to work on in the next few years.
