The Return of Forgotten Grains: Millets Beyond the Hype

By Chef Ashutosh Tiwari

There was a time when Millets didn’t need a marketing campaign.
They were simply part of our food. Bajra, ragi, jowar, kodo, little mille, Amarnath, sorghum and several other varieties found their way into everyday meals across Indian households. They were inexpensive, locally available and suited to the land and climate of the regions where they were grown.

Then, somewhere along the way, we stopped talking about them. Today, we are talking about them again but this time with words like superfood, ancient grain, gluten-free and healthy lifestyle attached to them.

As a chef, I find this comeback both exciting and slightly ironic. We are rediscovering something our ancestors never really forgot.

In professional kitchens, ingredients often come and go with trends. I have seen chefs and restaurants quickly adopt whatever is receiving attention sometimes because it genuinely adds value, and sometimes simply because customers are asking for it. Millets have followed a similar path. But I believe there is much more to millets than their current popularity.

One of their greatest strengths is their connection to Indian food traditions. Before polished rice and refined flour became staples in many urban kitchens, different communities depended heavily on locally grown grains. They were cooked according to the region, season and availability. A simple bajra roti, ragi preparation or jowar bhakri was not considered a “health dish”. It was simply food. That distinction matters.

When we put a premium price tag on an ingredient because it has suddenly become fashionable, are we really celebrating it or have we just repackaged our own culinary heritage for a modern consumer?

There is also an important conversation around sustainability. Millets are generally well suited to diverse Indian growing conditions and can play a role in creating more resilient food systems. For a country with a large agricultural population and varied climatic conditions, encouraging diversity in what we grow can be just as important as discussing what we eat. But bringing millets back into our kitchens doesn’t mean replacing everything with millet.

I have always believed that a chef’s job is not to follow an ingredient blindly but to understand it. Every grain has its own character. Its texture, flavour, aroma and cooking behaviour are different. The challenge is to respect those qualities rather than forcing an ingredient into a dish simply because it is trending.
A millet-based menu can be creative without losing its identity. The possibilities are enormous from traditional preparations to breads, salads, breakfast dishes, desserts and contemporary restaurant cuisine.

But the starting point should always be flavour. This is where chefs have an important role to play.
We can introduce diners to these grains in ways that are familiar, exciting and delicious. We can tell the story of the farmer, the region and the tradition behind the ingredient. Most importantly, we can help move the conversation from “healthy food” to simply “good food.”
Because let’s be honest how long can a food trend survive if people don’t actually enjoy eating it?

The real test for millets will not be how many restaurants put a millet dish on their menu this year. It will be whether those dishes remain on menus five or ten years from now.
Will consumers continue to buy them when the hashtag disappears?
Will chefs continue to use them when the next superfood arrives? And will we once again make these grains part of everyday cooking rather than treating them as something exotic?

Perhaps the real revival of millets will happen when we stop calling them a trend.
When bajra, ragi and jowar return to our kitchens not because they are fashionable, but because they are delicious, versatile, nutritious and deeply connected to who we are as a food culture.

Maybe the future of Indian food isn’t always about discovering something new. Sometimes, it is about remembering what we already knew.