THE JOY OF MILLET

Macrobiotique cuisine is essentially grain based. It is a reworking of the traditional foods of the great grain-based civilizations of the world. In this respect it is most definitely not "paleo" - a diet and a philosophy that is essentially pro-primitive and anti-civilization. Macrobiotic cuisine revolves around the use of wholegrain staples, and brown rice in particular. In some ways this is a historical accident. It so happens that modern macrobiotics was formulated by Japanese pioneers and so they naturally drew upon rice as their staple food. Had they been northern Europeans their staple grain would have been rye. If they had been northern Indians it would have been wheat. If they had been South Americans it would have been maize, and if they had been Tibetans it would have been barley. If they had been Africans it would have been millet. George Ohsawa (and after him Michio Kushi) were Japanese, and so their version of "macrobiotics" - which is to say a modern reformulation of traditional diets - is rice-based. It so happens, of course, that rice makes an excellent staple grain and in nutritional terms, and in terms of yin and yang, it is very balanced. It remains the foundation of macrobiotic cooking, and rightly so. 

Other grains should not be overlooked, though, if only for variety's sake. It is good for a macrobiotic chef to have expertise in a range of whole grains as well as brown rice. The one that I recommend is millet. This is a very ancient grain, is very nutritious, very delicious and has the added advantage of being strongly alkaline (non-acidic). I usually have millet-based meals two or three times a week, just as a break from rice. Here below is a simple millet dish:

Lightly fry a chopped onion in a little oil in a saucepan. Add two or three handfuls of millet grain. Cover with any suitable vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, turn down and simmer. Stir constantly and add more liquid as necessary. Towards the end add some finely chopped flat-leafed parsley. It takes about twenty minutes on a low heat. This is a basic recipe. From there you can improvize. It is a wonderful, versatile grain that should be enjoyed more widely than it is.