Millet Marvels: A Hyderabad restaurant that pushes millets as alternative to rice, wheat

Read full article By Rajeswari Parasa @ The News Minuste Photo Credit: Buy Arrangement 

As a doctor, Bharat Reddy tells TNM what made him launch a restaurant that focusses on food made of whole grain millets.

Millet laddu, millet burgers, millet muesli — one can cook up a storm with just one type of whole grain, the millets. No wonder Telugu actors such as Nagarjuna, Nabha Natesh and other celebrities have been swearing by whole grain millet products. “It’s a healthy replacement for rice and especially wheat,” tweeted Nagarjuna, saying he has been eating millets for the last four years. Banking on this trend, Dr Bharath Reddy, who is a senior consultant cardiologist and a Telugu actor himself, decided to give a push to the increasing millet consumption and started Millet Marvels, a restaurant in Hyderabad.

From dosa, idli and vada to puri and uthappam, all food items here are made of different types of millets, and sold at reasonable prices. Started in August 2020 at Hyderabad’s Film Nagar, Millet Marvels also sells whole grains. The grains are sourced from farmers in Telangana’s Vikarabad, the Rayalaseema region in Andhra Pradesh, and some parts of Karnataka.

For Dr Bharath Reddy, however, it was not just business. As a doctor, he wanted to create awareness about making the right food choice. “If you continue eating polished white rice and wheat, you’ll end up taking medications from the age of 35 to 40,” he tells The News Minute.

“We put the word millets in the restaurant’s name as we want people to know that they are eating millets when they step into our outlets and because we want to increase the awareness around it. Giving something worthwhile back to society is the main aim behind starting this,” says Dr Bharath, who has been on a millet diet for the last five years.