With the change in time, an age-old dietary tradition is slowly disappearing in Trashi Yangtse. Millet flour has been the main staple diet for generations. However, it is now not common to see people eating millet flour.
A family in Tarphel Chiwog in Bumdeling gewog shows how millet dough is prepared.
The flour is added to boiling water and mixed thoroughly until it is well-cooked. People say it is healthy and keeps them full for a longer time.
Several types of curry are served with it. However, red chilli with dried cheese, locally known as Phrum Koo, is considered special with the dough.
The dish is best served and eaten when it is still hot, as it becomes hard when it gets cold.
People consider their millet-based dietary habit as a unique cultural identity of Trashi Yangtse, particularly in Bumdeling Gewog.
However, this traditional habit is gradually changing with shifts in lifestyle and farming practices.
Millet cultivation is also declining each year, as imported rice and other food items are easily available.
Phurpa Tshering from Cheng village said, “If the school plans to provide millet flour meals to students, either once a week or two to three times a month, it will encourage us to continue cultivating millet and help to preserve our dietary culture. Schools are places where our future generations can learn to carry forward to preserve our age-old culture.”
Drupchu Zangmo, a resident of Cheng said, “Compared to the past, people no longer cultivate millet on large areas of land. Earlier, our fields were covered with millet, and we depended entirely on it for our food. We had to eat millet flour for all three meals, even during lunch and dinner.”
Another resident, Tshering Yangzom said, “When I was young, I didn’t see many people eating millet flour. Even today, only a few people eat it. I feel it is tasty when I see our elders eating it, but I don’t really feel like eating it myself because we are more used to eating rice.”
But the district is doing everything to keep the tradition alive. Millet has been identified as the gewog’s product under the One Gewog One Product initiative.
There is a processing unit in the gewog. And millet and its many uses are showcased at every important event.
Bumdeling is the highest finger millet-producing gewog in Trashi Yangtse. Thanks to these efforts, the millet tradition in Trashi Yangtse is likely to live on.
Sonam Darjay, Trashi Yangtse
Edited by Tandin Phuntsho
