When scientists Amrita Hazra and Patricia Bubner arrived in Berkeley, California a few years back to do post-doctoral science at the University of California, they bonded over what they saw as an alarming lack of diversity in the American diet.

For one, Hazra, from India, and Bubner, from Austria, had both grown up eating many more diverse grains than they could find in the States. And they both had a fondness for millet; Hazra likes to add it to soups, to give texture, while Bubner makes patties with it, or cooks it in milk like porridge and adds apples and honey. But, Hazra was disappointed to learn that the variety of millets consumed in India are not available here, and they found that most Americans hardly ate it at all. 

While millet is grown and consumed in vast quantities in places like Africa, India, and parts of Europe, the ancient grain is much less popular here. In fact, it is mostly marketed for bird seed rather than for human consumption.

Millet is the term for a group of small seeded grasses. If you’ve ever cooked Proso millet, the variety available here, you know that it is yellow in color, and looks like a small bead when raw. Cooked in water or broth, it becomes fluffy in texture, with a slightly nutty taste. As with many grains though, it doesn’t have much flavor at all, and is mostly used as a vehicle to soak up whatever sauce you serve it with.

Earlier this year, Hazra and Bubner joined forces with Gavin Abreu, a student at U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, who had launched several food businesses in his native Mexico City, to create what they call The Millet Project. The project is geared toward, “rediscovering the traditions of cultivating millets and further reintroducing them into our diet.” The group applied for and was given seed funding from the Berkeley Food Institute, which awards grants with the aim of diversifying the local food system. A third researcher, Pedro Gonçalves, who was interested in the grain’s sustainable properties, later joined the team.

They received $24,000 to fund one year of research, and are looking for funding sources to continue the working. While they have no plans to start an organization or non-profit, and it isn’t tied into any kind of degree program, Bubner said, “we do this because we are genuinely interested in it and want to contribute to a change in the current food system.”

Why are these researchers so excited about millet? For starters, it’s a nutritional powerhouse. While its levels of antioxidants, iron, protein, calcium, and B vitamins vary from variety to variety, like quinoa, it has higher levels of protein and micronutrients than corn or rice. It’s also gluten-free. But the team doesn’t want millet to be marketed specifically as a gluten-free food, because, as Hazra puts it, “everyone should eat it.”

Furthermore, she said, “Millets have a balanced nutritional profile,” meaning they have fewer carbohydrates and more protein and fiber than common grains like rice, wheat, and corn.

For a grain with a nutritional profile similar to that of quinoa, millet also wins out in the budgetary department. According to Hazra, “Millet is the cheapest grain the bulk section” of her local supermarket; while organic quinoa sells there for $5.99 a pound, a pound of organic millet costs only $1.29. This is because as quinoa has grown in popularity, the price of it has increased, too. While it thrives in the harsh conditions of its native Bolivia and Peru, it must be adapted to grow elsewhere (something American scientists are working on).

Lastly, millet is incredibly resilient in a variety of climates. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research describes it as a crop that can be grown in the “hungry season,” meaning that it often flourishes at times when the previous year’s grain supplies are exhausted.