With a view to creating awareness of a balanced diet, students of Shrimati Indira Gandhi College organised an exhibition in which they displayed a variety of food items made from millets.
Organised by the departments of Microbiology and Biochemistry, the Millets Expo 2019 saw over 170 students prepare and present varieties of dishes made with millets such as cholam (sorghum), kezhvaragu (finger millet), thinai (foxtail millet), varagu (kodo millet), saamai (little millet), kambu (pearl millet), Panivaragu (proso millet) and kuthiraivaali (barnyard millet).
“Millets had been the major staple food in southern India for centuries. But with fast-paced-lifestyle and the introduction of rice, millets got sidelined from our food basket,” says B. Pandichelvi, a third-year student of Microbiology.
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“Children learn from their elders. If they are fed millets from a young age, they will make them a part of their daily diet. Their high-fibre content helps in bowel movement and manages diabetes and obesity. Besides, millets can bring down blood glucose in diabetics and are rich sources of antioxidants apart from being useful in preventing cardiovascular diseases,” said K. Kavitha, a third-year student of Biochemistry.
Such efforts are taken regularly to ensure that these food habits were inculcated into the students’ daily diet, said K. Anandhi, Head of Department, Microbiology.
“Several of our students have millets in their regular diet because of their parents and grandparents. In fact, last year, we handed out prizes to the grandmothers when their child won in the millet exhibition. Some students were even able to make and sell some of the food, venturing into entrepreneurship while in college itself,” she said.
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