OMM To Hold Millet Food Festival In Odisha Capital Tomorrow

Bhubaneswar: A unique food festival will be held in Bhubaneswar on Sunday with a joint effort by the Odisha Millets Mission (OMM) and the Restaurants Association of Odisha (RAO).

The exclusive Millet Food Festival will provide an opportunity to the visitors to witness multiple high-end restaurants creating gourmet food using a variety of millets. The festival will be held at Kalabhoomi, Bhubaneswar.

Odisha Millets Mission has promised a day filled with flavours and creative takes on millets from various chefs across the state.

OMM is an expanding initiative through which the Odisha government aims to revive the lost millet potential of the state. Adopting a unique farm-to-fork approach, OMM has been proactively promoting millets in various parts of the state, and the collaboration with RAO can be considered another crucial step in the process. Odisha Millets Mission has been systematically organising training programs for Chefs of different hotels and restaurants on Millet dishes. Two rounds of training have been conducted at IHM with 22 Hotels/Restaurants till now.

Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Arabinda Padhee said that OMM is looking for active collaboration with Restaurant associations to innovate new millet dishes and take it to the younger generation.

The Millet Food Festival is a one-day, open-for-all event that the public can attend and experience several millet-based cuisines. Renowned restaurants from all over Odisha are all set to showcase their unique, scrumptious recipes to visitors. Michael’s Kitchen, Oberai’s Café, Green Chiliyz, and Odisha Hotel are some of the big names taking part in this festival.

Visitors will also be able to grab their favourite millet items and meals from the local Millet Shakti stall by Mission Shakti WSHGs.

Director, Agriculture, Prem Chaudhury said that millets are a future food and is hope for many lifestyle diseases. Market for millets is growing day by day. Promotion by hotels will take these healthier options to youth.

The festival will also be attended by a number of actresses, including Shivani Sangita, Bhoomika Dash, and Divyadisha Mohanty, along with various other influencers and media personalities.
Through this event, the department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment aims to encourage younger generations to be a part of the ‘relish millet cuisines’ while educating them on the goodness of millets.