Guru Nanak Dev varsity pushes for millets as ‘slow food’

The Department of Hotel Management and Tourism, Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), is collaborating with other departments to work on a project for developing millets as ‘slow food’ in Punjab. The Department of Agriculture and Nutrition and Dietetics will also be involved in the project.

Launching a series of colloquium, Harpreet Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of Hotel Management and Tourism, said the university would submit the pitch for the project to the Indian Council of Social Science and Research (ICSSR) to undertake a five-year project on millets.

“We will carry out a research on developing millet-based slow foods as a healthy alternative to fast food. We will also study the impact of millet-based foods on health and their nutritional benefits for different age groups. The study will cover aspects of health, food safety and development of easy-to-cook food using millets, which once were a staple crop of Punjab,” said Prof Harpreet.

The colloquium series began with a lecture by chef Jaswinder Singh, Assistant Professor and Australian Qualification and Training Overseas Trainer in Melbourne. Singh emphasised the critical role of food safety and hygiene in India’s small-scale food sector.

He highlighted various challenges being faced by small manufacturers and advocated enhanced training, education and collaborative initiatives to ensure the delivery of safe and high-quality food products. Singh also stressed transformational shift towards millet-based foods as a sustainable practice in agriculture as well as food industry.

Tejwant Singh Kang, Head of the Department of Hotel Management and Tourism, shared that the study to be funded by the ICSSR will be a multi-department collaboration of the GNDU.

It will evaluate the effectiveness of millet programme, cost-effective production, investigate ways to make millet cultivation more resilient to climate change and developing it as slow food integrating it into popular foods like pizaa, burgers and other baked foods.

The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) has funded several studies on millets in India, particularly focusing on the impact of government initiatives like the ‘Year of Millets 2023’ and the ‘Millet Mission’, for the last two years. The studies examine the production, cost dynamics and export patterns of millet, with a focus on specific regions like Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

Punjab