Slow food has become a very popular movement in the West; in local villages throughout India, women would wake up at the crack of dawn, draw water from a well, sweep their doorsteps, and pound millets into flour. In Tamil Nadu, as in many other states, ragi or finger millet was a staple food, and every day, it was freshly pounded and then ground on the stone mill to make flour for porridge.

This fermented porridge called “Kuzhu”- which is highly nutritious and also very tasty, has been the traditional food for thousands of years! It is amazing to see how, in one generation, this knowledge has been lost. Fast food and industrialized agriculture have eroded not only our health and that of our planet but also the very fabric of our cultural identity. Let’s rediscover slow food and learn how to pound the grains and grind them into flour and appreciate their delicious taste and nutritious value.