In looking for new adventures nearby, I got the contact of a French lady, called Martine, from the Vendée region. After half a year in France, half in India for more than 6 years, she decided to develop the millet sector in France, focusing on farming first, then transforming... Indeed, millet has been cultivated in India for generations. It has health and environmental advantages. Easy to grow, easy to store, it is also considered as a filling staple. In India, millet crop has declined in favour of rice, the new fashion cereal. Indeed, refine rice has the white colour appeal, and was first consumed by rich people. Today, in India, millet is promoted for water saving, in order to supplant rice crops, while water shortage becomes a serious problem. Ragi (= finger millet) is mainly cultivated in Karnataka (58% of the Indian production) and is one of the only millets allowed for human consumption in France (we know what Monsanto or others can do!). Ragi prononcé [ragui], mot provenant du Kannada, peut se traduire par éleusine en français. Produire du ragi en France va permettre de diversifier les produits sans gluten sans importer les céréales d'Amérique latine ou d'Asie.
Martina, or the Ragi Girl ;-), works her ass off ;-) to create and develop a network in France Le Colletif Millet. She gathers people, collects information and seeds in India, sends all these to France, stimulates people around her... So I am here too! Elle a déjà avec elle le GAB Vendée, Biocoop Vendée avec son réseau de cantines bio, Nature et Progrès, dont 3 pages dans le magazine du même nom, et un article dans l'Age de Faire. Je compte bien faire bouger la région Rhône Alpes en rentrant. Le ragi, c'est la vie ! :-) Promis, je bosserai un peu plus sur le slogan plus tard, hihihi ! Plus sérieusement, on a déjà un agriculteur dans l'Isère, qui a les graines et qui va les semer en juin. Et ce n'est que le début !
I first joined her to make ragi pastas!! In the Home Science department of the University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharward, north Karnataka. Hé oui, meussieux dames :-) Yes, my wonderful knowledge about food technology helped soooooo much! Whatever, we had fun. And met VIPs, who were warm and interesting scientists too :-)
Martine est en train de réaliser un documentaire "Des millets dans mon Assiette". Voici le lien vers le site web du Collectif Millet, avec une version en construction du documentaire : www.collectifmillets.com
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| Martina and the pasta machine |
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| On a été bien sérieux, ceci dit |
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| I went to an Indian wedding, well... only the party...! Good night, just married! |
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| un peu de wwoofing |
