Dear Locavore,

 

When I think of Kochi, I think of time.

 

As in, I’ve always wanted to visit the city, and now that it’s almost time, I will. In the past months at The Locavore, I’ve also heard our founder, ChefTZac, and editor Yamini, mention Kochi innumerable times (almost as a passage of time), from the familiar town where they grew up, to the city it has transformed into. I suppose that is the nature of place, and time—to move. 

 

I’m very excited though, in the here and now, to be able to travel with many team members to bring to the city two amazing events as part of the Millet Revival Project. The project is a collaboration between The Locavore and Rainmatter Foundation, dedicated to revitalising India's appreciation and use of millets.

Time is an ingredient. How we farm and eat today has so much to do with how time has impacted our lands and culinary cultures. Kerala, home of sea and forest, rice and millets, tubers underground and bamboo shooting high, is evidence of this changing ingredient.

 

For our first event, Mingle with Millets, taking place on 20 July 2024, we will bring together some of these ingredients for an insightful panel discussion that will provide an understanding of the regional millet landscape, and how it is changing.

 

We will also host an immersive cooking workshop with three sessions where participants can learn new millet recipes, combining traditional and modern culinary techniques.

Time, through its ebb and flow (a beach reference right there!), is also much like joy. So there’s no reason why we shouldn’t work towards a sustainable future with hope and joy, even—and especially—through periods of bleakness.

 

At The Locavore, we love to mix food and play in meaningful ways to help us think of new ways of understanding and engaging with our food systems, and our second event brings together all of our favourite things.

 

So on 21 July, we will be hosting Kochi’s First-Ever Millet Mixer! The evening will feature the crowd-favourite Locavore Shuffle, a community potluck, and ChefTZac’s legendary pub quiz! All of this, set against the backdrop of a millet salad bar helmed by Chef himself and some climate-conscious trivia!

We would also love it if you could share some of your time, and volunteer with us to make this event a success. We are looking for a culinary educator to head the cooking workshop on 20 July, and for volunteers in various other capacities. 

 

If you can be a volunteer for the event, you can find more information, and fill up the form here, or click the button below. 

Of all the ways I can find to describe time, perhaps my favourite is that it is a decision—that we can choose how to spend it. And I don’t think there’s anything better than cooking, talking, and eating, all coming together at a table. A day can then be everlasting, and a weekend, a luminous memory forever. 

 

I can’t wait to see you next week, Kochi! Let’s make the most of our time together.