The recent Uplift festival had many highlights for me and the first was listening to Vandana Shiva's talk. I had catered for Vandana Shiva the week prior to the festival and hadn't actually realised how famous or how influential she has been in the world. When catering for Vandana Shiva I instantly liked her but wasn't quite sure why. After hearing her speak I felt truly honored that I had been asked to cater for her. Vandana Shiva's work in the world has been beneficial to all of our lives and she continues to campaign for our right to eat non GMO food. If she had allowed me I would have bowed down to her feet in gratitude for all she does, but having the opportunity to hang out with her a little and getting a photo taken with her was more appropriate.

What Vandana Shiva offered me during her speech was the opportunity to see that even in what seems a most difficult task (to keep our food from being genetically modified) there is a sense of positivity and a real grass roots way of making a change. The real change in the world, instead of fighting these massive corporations (who wish to make it illegal to grow our own seeds) is to vote with our wallets. Buying locally farmed produce and asking where the produce has come from and if it is organic or spray free is going to make the biggest difference. Personally I have seen huge changes in what our local farmers are producing in the short five years I have been in business.

I urge you to listen to Vandana Shiva's talk at the Uplift festival (it is available at Fora.tv and you can type in VEET as a promotional code for a discount) because there are many gems and words of wisdom and information that I cannot possibly paraphrase for you.

What I took away from listening to Vandana Shiva was a reinforcement that I am on the right track with the way I have chosen to live my life, feed myself and stay healthy. In addition i learned a lot of astounding facts on what the greedy corporations are trying to do with our food growing and consumption.

Vandana Shiva is an advocate of seed diversity and as a result of corporations like Monsanto, Bayer, Du Pont, Syngenta, Seba, Santos and Astra this diversity is being eroded very quickly.  Such corporations are producing seeds that don't reproduce and farmers are having to buy seeds each and every year. Massively destructive chemicals are being used and crop yields are not increasing because of chemical farming (as was promised to the  farmers).

In India over two hundred and eighty four thousand farmers have committed suicide due to the vicious cycle they have found themselves trapped in with forced chemical farming and massive debts to these companies for having to buy seeds each year.

To look at what is positively happening through the work of Vandana Shiva and others you can check out the following website http://www.navdanya.org/

On another positive note Vandana Shiva talked about the millet seed and how it can reproduce a million seeds making it an incredible food source. Last year millet became my all time favourite grain, once I had worked out how to cook it properly. Millet is incredibly nutritious and is under used in Australia but before chemical farming was widely used in India. It comprises 11% protein, is high in vitamin B's, contains a good source of iron, calcium, potassium and zinc and is gluten free. As I feel millet is a great contribution to any diet I have included four millet recipes in this blog and three blog posts ago there is another millet recipe. I have also included the best way of cooking millet as it can become quite gluggy.

Before the recipes though I want to leave you with two of my favourite quotes from Vandana Shiva's talk. For me they are exactly why I continue to work as a caterer and write these weekly blogs as well as being committed to buying fresh local organic produce.

"When you eat you are not just nourishing the body, you are nourishing the mind too. You are nourishing your consciousness because food is consciousness. Vandana Shiva Uplift festival talk 12th December 2013

A translation of an Upanishad (Hindu religious transcripts)

The universe is made for the divine, for the good of all. Because it is made for the divine for all beings, taking more than your share is theft. Vandana Shiva Uplift festival talk 12th December 2013

Cooking Millet

To cook 1 cup of millet bring 4 cups of salted  filtered water to the boil. While the water is coming to the boil wash the millet in a sieve to remove any dust particles and excess starch. Place the cup of millet in the boiling water and cook for 20 minutes. If the millet has a slight crunch that is ok but not too much. Strain the millet from the water and then separate the grains with a fork.  The millet will continue to cook if you leave it straining in a sieve and can become gluggy so transfer it to a wide bowl and keep forking through.
 

Millet Recipes
Millet and egg or millet and seeds

1 cup of cooked millet

1 cup seeds of your choice

salt and pepper to taste

small amount of oil

1 bunch of parsley finely chopped

Whisk the eggs and add salt and pepper.  Heat the oil in a frying pan and then add the egg. Once cooked on one side flip the egg over into a half omelette. Make sure the egg is cooked through and remove from the heat. When cooled down a bit cut the omlette into strips and then mix with the millet and parsley. This can be served warm or cold and is a great side to many dishes.

Add a combination of sesame, sunflower, pepitas and hemp seeds.

Millet with beans and tomato

1 cup cooked millet

300g green beans cut into small pieces on an angle

3 roma tomatoes cut into 8 pieces each

1 generous tbsp of dulse flakes

a good squeeze of lemon juice

Steam the beans and then when cooked to your desired softness mix them with the tomatoes (the heat of the beans will draw out some of the juice of the tomatoes - delicious).  Mix the beans and tomatoes with the millet, dulse and lemon juice.

Millet salad with rocket

1 cup of millet

200g rocket

12 to 15 pitted olives

2 tbsp hemp seeds

A great side salad with many dimensions.  Layer the ingredients on a platter and serve with your favourite protein.  I would suggest some Byron Bay tempeh or locally made tempeh or goats cheese.

Millet and steamed veg, dulse and sesame

300g your favourite green steamed vegetables

1 cup millet

2 large teaspoons dulse

squeeze of lemon juice

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

Mix everything together and serve with the omelette that I made for fathers day.

Categories:Mains Salads

Tags:millet

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