Millet cuisine for a Peaceful World: Interview with the Millet Sisters of Melbourne

Maki's Millet cuisine

I had my introduction to delicious Millet cuisine when the Guru, Otani-san, came from Japan to hold a workshop at the Melbourne Friends of the Earth Co-op. She travels the world, cooking and speaking about how eating less meat and wheat can create a peaceful world. Who would have thought?
For a start, Millet grows well in poor, dry soil, so requires fewer resources, less fighting over water and good soil.
Some people say eating less meat makes you more gentle. Just think about the eating and fighting habits of people you know, cultures in history. (No, I'm not vegetarian. Yes, I'm extremely attracted to gentle people, for balance).
As for wheat, it is usually eaten in a highly refined form, nothing like the grains our ancestors' bodies evolved on. All that sticky gluten - our bodies don't really know what to do with it. Some of us have obvious ill-effects. The rest of us...we don't know. But scientists say something to the effect that it coats our cells and makes us old before our time. I'm too inefficiant to get old before my time!

Interview With Maki,
Melbourne's Millet Sisters

Here is an interview with Maki, one of the most talented and active of my Permaculture students. Maki is holding Millet creation workshops at CERES, East Brunswick, April 26


Cecilia: Can you grow useful cereals on balconies or courtyards?

Maki: Yes!
Here is my own first Indian millet growing in my tiny veggie patch. I planted three seeds and they're all shooting up with very little water. They seem to have the same strength and vitality as sturdy herbs.

Maki's urban Melbourne Millet

C:Whats so great about millet?

Maki: They're delicious and versatile. They have high nutritional values and low Earth impact. They've always been a major part of our diet in many different cultures throughout the World.

Once people know how easy it is to cook with millet, they will never turn away. I must admit that I myself had been a helpless cook in the kitchen for a long time, but with millet cooking, not like any other cooking, it's quite difficult to spoil a meal. It's simple yet there is a variety of ways to cook. Most importantly it can be turned into something else even when the unexpected happens.

Cecilia: If millet is good, why isn't it more popular?

Maki: I guess, people think millet is too boring for them. They aren't aware of how good it is and also how easily it can be prepared at home. Well, I was one of those people until my friend Miwa showed me this style of millet cooking three years ago. She learned it from Ms. Otani, the founder of Tsubutsubu cooking in Japan.
Cecilia: So, of all the good causes you could devote your energies to, why did
you choose food?

Maki: Well, I love nature and nature loves me (^^).
When I heard that the amount of energy we consume for everyday life, number one is for growing, packaging and delivering the food we eat, secondary for a shelter, and thirdly for transportation, I thought eating habits could be changed simply by knowing better alternatives which are available right here right now.

Cecilia: What is your favorite recipe for when you come home tired and hungry?
Maki: If I have left-over millet or any grains already cooked in my fridge,
I often make millet burgers using some seasonings and chopped onions.
Pan-fry and rap them up with fresh leafy vegetables.
Otherwise, a bowl of soup can be a full meal with some grains
such as sticky millet, oats or quinoa together with some vegetables.

Cecilia: What are the three top things about Japanese culture you would like to
share with Aussies?

Maki:
1. the magic of developing extra senses to appreciate gentle tastes.
2. the importance of feeling content when you're 80% full(hara hachibu).
3. the belief of everything has a spirit, even a grain of millet.

Cecilia: So, what's your most ambitious dream for your millet work?

Maki: ummm..at the moment we, the millet sisters, are taking baby steps, but one day if we could meet Jamie Oliver we'd be happy. Just kidding(^^).
Well we believe good food can heal people's bodies and souls, and ultimately, along with all the other great deeds around the World, it may help the Earth heal.

Maki endevors to use local ingredients wherever possible
(photo by Cecilia, Sustainable Living Festival)

http://www.lesliebeck.com/ingredient_index.php?featured_food=9