Opinion Express View on G20 summit food: Not on the menu

At the G20 summit that concluded in Delhi on Sunday, only one thing, it would appear, gave competition to geopolitics — millets. The atithi devo bhava experience for the delegates was replete with delicacies made from the humble grains, touted by the government as beacons of sustainability in a world rocked by health and environmental crises. There were foxtail millet starters topped with yoghurt and spiced chutney. The main course was jackfruit galette with forest mushrooms and little millet crisps and Kerala red rice. The guests rounded off their meal with a cardamom-scented barnyard millet pudding. If the high table showcased New Delhi’s growing diplomatic clout, its menu was all about giving a global platform to the hardy grains that are staples in large parts of the country. Even at the hotels where the guests were accommodated, chefs embraced millets with gusto and used them in idlis and puris, pastas and risottos.

The government’s championing of the versatile and climate-friendly food is welcome. But it seems to have come at the cost of the country’s culinary diversity — the government appears to be pandering to the stereotype of India being a nation of vegetarians. Non-vegetarian fare was particularly conspicuous by its absence on the G20 menu. Chef Kunal Kapur’s jowar and mushroom khichdi, for instance, was a plant-based twist on a slow-cooked dish made with meat, broken wheat and spices. As Kapur wrote in an Instagram post, “It is a recipe that takes its lineage from Harees” that finds a mention in the 10th-century cookbook Kitaab Al Tabikh.

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It’s well known that close to 60 per cent of Indians are not vegetarians. The culinary culture of the country is a product of the cultural interactions of its people and their ability to tap into their milieu — farms, forests, ponds, rivers and seas. That’s what makes food practices in large parts of the country sustainable, not just the consumption of millets.