Healthy Living Through Millets: District-Level Cooking Competition Celebrates Forgotten Flavors in Mangaluru

By Editor

Posted on January 7, 2026

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Healthy Living Through Millets: District-Level Cooking Competition Celebrates Forgotten Flavors in Mangaluru

Mangaluru : Jayaram, the Project Director of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat, emphasized that adopting a lifestyle centered on millet-based dishes is key to healthy living. Speaking at the inauguration of the district-level “Millet and Forgotten Dishes” cooking competition held at the Joint Director of Agriculture’s office on Tuesday, he noted that millets are not only beneficial for human health but also essential for soil health and environmental conservation. He highlighted that millet cultivation saves water and serves as useful fodder for livestock, urging the public to replace junk food with these nutrient-rich grains.

Reviving Traditional Food Habits
Honnappa Govinda Gowda, the Joint Director of Agriculture, stressed the need to introduce the food habits of our ancestors to the current generation. He explained that millets possess properties that help control lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. The event was organized specifically to encourage the cultivation of millets and to introduce various millet-based products to the market. Experts from various fields, including food scientists and professors from Nitte University and the Ullal Research Centre, served as judges for the competition.

A Feast of Flavors and Winners
The competition saw enthusiastic participation from 51 individuals across the district, showcasing 51 unique dishes across three categories: Forgotten Dishes, Millet Spicy, and Millet Sweet. The display featured innovative creations such as Millet Biryani, Ragi Halwa, Jackfruit Holige, and various traditional wild leaf chutneys. In the Spicy category, Jayashree Attavar took first place, while Vimala Raju won the top prize in the Sweet category. Shashmi Bhat was awarded first place in the Forgotten Dishes category for reviving traditional flavors. All participants were honored with certificates of appreciation.