How millet café became a national phenomenon

Rohini Patnaik and Deepa Singh opened a Millets Café in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh last year in May. Soon their café became a hit in town and after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mention in Mann ki Baat, the café became a national phenomenon.
Deepa Singh said that the idea of Millet café came after some women from the Women and Child Development department were sent for training in Odisha. The women went there to learn savoury made of Ragi. Later, with the help of the administration, this café became a reality. The café is run by a cooperative society.
The visitors are offered a wide variety of dishes including millet momos, millet cheela and dosa, millet Manchurian, millet pizza, ragi pakoda, ragi papad, ragi roti and kodo biryani. “Our millet cheela, veg lollipop and kodo biryani are top-selling items,” said Deepa Singh.
After the PM lauded the initiative on his monthly radio program Mann ki Baat, more customers started coming to the café. “We had never thought that our effort will reach this high and after our mention, more people have started pouring into our café,” said Deepa Singh. The millets commonly grown in India include jowar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millet), ragi (finger millet), jhangora (barnyard millet), barri (proso or common millet), kangni (foxtail/Italian millet), kodra (kodo millet), etc.
The eatery goes beyond providing food as it also enlightens its patrons about the benefits of millet. To promote the delicacies made of millets, the Café is sharing unique recipes of the food with others. Recently, it also served millet dishes at the Vidhan Sabha also.
According to Deepa, millets are not only good for women, but they are also beneficial for one who eats because they could be an alternative to “maida”. Millets are also good for people with diabetes and high blood pressure. Apart from all of this, they are also less water-consuming crop, good for both farmers and land.