BRICS Summit 2026 Menu: As leaders and delegations arrive in Delhi for the BRICS Summit 2026, some of the city’s leading hotels are using food to tell a distinctly Indian story, and millets have emerged as one of its key ingredients. From ragi dosa, quinoa upma and finger millet payasam to millet cookies, handmade granola bars and wellness infusions, the menus being prepared for delegates combine traditional Indian ingredients with contemporary presentations. The focus also reflects a larger push led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take India’s indigenous grains to a wider audience. While millets are being incorporated into the BRICS culinary experience, Delhi hotels are also drawing on regional recipes, traditional spices, locally grown vegetables and ingredients associated with different parts of the country.
Why Millets Are Finding A Place On The BRICS Table? At The Lalit, New Delhi, the culinary team has deliberately included millets while also keeping the diverse preferences of international guests in mind. Amit Biswas, Executive Sous Chef, The Lalit, New Delhi, said the hotel was promoting millets at BRICS in line with the Prime Minister’s focus on the grain. “So, we are promoting millets at BRICS. As our honourable Prime Minister is focusing on millets, we are promoting millets at BRICS,” Biswas said. He said the breakfast menu had also been planned around the fact that a large number of guests would be staying at the hotel.
The chefs have calibrated the spice levels and dishes so that guests from different food cultures can enjoy the menu. “As it is BRICS, we have all desserts and, most of the time, our main course is also created so that Indian food is showcased as being from India,” Biswas said. The Lalit is also placing emphasis on Indian spices, traditional vegetables and farm-grown produce, with a focus on local products. “We are focusing more on local products and local produce so that our guests can see what is available locally and what people can get in India,” he added.
At The Leela Palace New Delhi, the culinary programme similarly combines Indian heritage with contemporary dining. The hotel has created a special edible handcrafted lotus, inspired by the lotus being India’s national flower and its presence in the identity of BRICS India 2026. The flower has also been given significance through The Leela’s own journey. Crafted using rose, saffron and cardamom and paired with indigenous Indian fruits, the edible lotus is intended to combine symbolism with culinary craftsmanship. Karan Thakur, Executive Chef, The Leela Palace New Delhi, said the hotel’s culinary team had prepared creations that had been particularly appreciated by visiting delegations.
The hotel is also highlighting Aujasya by The Leela, its wellness programme, through offerings including millet cookies, handmade granola bars and wellness infusions. The millet focus extends to specific dishes. Executive Chef Astik Oberoi, who is overseeing the BRICS culinary preparations at The Leela Palace New Delhi, said the menu includes quinoa upma, ragi dosa and finger millet payasam. The broader idea, he said, is to allow international guests to discover ingredients that are distinctly Indian without making the dining experience feel unfamiliar. “We want them to discover the incredible diversity of Indian ingredients and flavours, particularly our indigenous grains, spices, fruits and regional produce,” Oberoi said.
Why There Is No Single Menu For 11 BRICS Members? Serving an international gathering of 11 BRICS members presents a different challenge from preparing a conventional hotel menu. Delegations arrive with varied culinary traditions, dietary preferences and requirements. At The Leela Palace New Delhi, each dish is therefore assessed for flavour, dietary needs, sustainability and cultural sensitivity. Oberoi said the menu would also change according to the occasion rather than remaining the same throughout the summit. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and official receptions require different approaches, while the kitchen must maintain consistent standards throughout the event. The challenge is particularly important when presenting Indian cuisine to guests who may not be accustomed to its flavours.
Allergies And Dietary Requirements Get Special Attention: Behind the elaborate menus is another layer of preparation that delegates may never see. Food allergies, intolerances, vegetarian and vegan requirements and other dietary preferences have to be identified and communicated to the culinary team before food is prepared. The Leela Palace New Delhi said it works with advance teams and delegations to ensure individual requirements are handled carefully. For allergies, the process goes beyond simply removing a particular ingredient. The hotel has dedicated procedures for identification, segregation and preparation, with coordination between culinary, service and event teams. Oberoi said special requirements were handled individually, with attention to ingredient traceability, prevention of cross-contact and guest safety.
Taj Mahal Turns To Recipes Rooted In Home Kitchens: At the Taj Mahal, the culinary focus takes another route, using family recipes and India’s regional food traditions to introduce delegates to the country’s food heritage. The hotel is welcoming BRICS delegates with ‘Tradition to Table’, a collection of recipes curated by Taj chefs and inspired by the dishes they grew up eating, particularly those associated with their mothers. The concept is intended to reflect Indian hospitality through recipes carrying a personal connection for the chefs who prepared them. The experience also includes traditional savoury bites from six regions of India. According to a report by NDTV, the selection includes spiced walnuts from Kashmir, Purani Dilli Maida Kaju, Maharashtra’s Bhakarwadi, Rajasthan’s Mini Kachori, Bengal’s Kucho Nimki and Tamil Nadu’s Murukku. Together, the dishes showcase different ingredients, textures and cooking techniques from across India’s regional food traditions.
The Lalit Goes Beyond Conventional Banquet Food: The Lalit’s BRICS menu also moves beyond standard international banquet offerings. Alongside familiar Indian preparations such as galouti kebabs and tandoor-baked breads, the hotel has developed a strong millet-focused selection to highlight both the nutritional traditions associated with India’s indigenous grains and their potential in contemporary cooking. The menu also features unusual preparations reflecting the international nature of the gathering, including Braised Eggplant with Miso Paste, Simmered Chinese Cabbage and Kidney Bean Sweet Japanese Style with Amber Sauce. The combination allows the chefs to retain an Indian identity while acknowledging the different culinary cultures represented at the summit.
PM Modi’s Millet Mission And The Rise Of ‘Shri Anna’: The prominence of millets at BRICS also connects with a campaign Prime Minister Narendra Modi has championed for several years. PM Modi has referred to millets as ‘Shri Anna’, or the mother of grains, and has presented them as important not only for nutrition but also for climate resilience and the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers. At the Global Millets (Shri Anna) Conference in 2023, PM Modi said millets could help address challenges related to food security and changing food habits. He also urged agricultural scientists and experts to work towards increasing the share of nutri-cereals in India’s food basket.
The Prime Minister noted that millets could be cultivated in difficult climatic conditions and with lower dependence on chemicals and fertilisers. He said India’s millet mission could benefit 2.5 crore small and marginal farmers. At the time, millets accounted for only around 5-6% of the national food basket, and Modi called for achievable targets to increase their share. He also urged food-processing companies to use the government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the food-processing sector to expand millet-based products.
How India Took Millets To The World? India’s push for millets gained international momentum after the country spearheaded a United Nations General Assembly resolution declaring 2023 the International Year of Millets. India’s proposal was supported by 72 countries, and the UN General Assembly declared 2023 the International Year of Millets in March 2021. The campaign sought to create greater domestic and international demand for nutri-cereals while highlighting their nutritional value and their potential to support farmers. During the International Year of Millets, Modi also unveiled a customised postal stamp and a Rs 75 coin.
Millets are a broad category of small-seeded grasses often described as nutri-cereals or dryland cereals. They include sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), finger millet (ragi), little millet (kutki), foxtail millet (kakun), proso millet (cheena), barnyard millet (sawa) and kodo millet (kodon), among others. India produces more than 170 lakh tonnes of millet, accounting for about 80% of Asia’s production and 20% of global production. India’s average yield is around 1,239 kg per hectare, compared with a global average of approximately 1,229 kg per hectare.
The millet campaign also found an unusual cultural platform through music. PM Modi collaborated with Grammy Award-winning Indian-American singer Falguni Shah on a song highlighting the benefits of millets and their potential to help address world hunger. The song, ‘Abundance in Millets’, was performed by Mumbai-born singer-songwriter Falguni Shah and her husband and singer Gaurav Shah, and was scheduled for release across streaming platforms on June 16. The initiative demonstrated how the millet message was being taken beyond agriculture and government policy into popular culture. (PTI)
Parliament Put Millet Dishes On Its Menu: Millets also moved into India’s parliamentary dining spaces during the wider government push. Parliament canteens introduced dishes featuring ragi, jowar, bajra, rajgira and kangni, making millet-based food available to MPs, staff and visitors. The menu included jowar vegetable upma, ragi dosa, bajre ki tikki and bajra khichdi, alongside a range of regional preparations.
Starters included bajre ke raab from Rajasthan, ragi matar ka shorba, bajra onion ki muthiya from Gujarat, ragi rava idli with sambhar, shahi bajre ki tikki from Madhya Pradesh and jowar vegetable upma from Gujarat. Other offerings included Kerala’s ragi dosa with peanut chutney, Rajasthan’s rajgira poori with aloo ki sabzi, bajre/ragi ki roti and Gujarat’s bajre ki khichdi. The menu also featured amaranth salad, korra millet salad, kesari kheer made with small millets and ragi walnut laddoo.
G20 Events Also Gave Delegates A Taste Of Millets: Millets were also incorporated into India’s G20-related events in 2023, where the aim was to give international delegates a deeper experience of India’s indigenous grains. The experience went beyond tasting food. Delegates were also to be introduced to farmers and take part in interactive sessions involving start-ups and farmer producer organisations (FPOs). This approach linked the food on the plate with the farmers, entrepreneurs and agricultural ecosystem behind India’s millet economy. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries organised millet fair-cum-exhibitions in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, while the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) organised ‘Eat Right Melas’ in Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Rajasthan also carried out activities focused on awareness and promotion of the International Year of Millets. Meanwhile, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and the Agriculture Ministry participated in a trade show in Belgium, where a multi-stakeholder Indian delegation showcased the diversity of the country’s millets.
From ‘Shri Anna’ To The BRICS Table: The millet dishes being served around BRICS therefore form part of a much longer culinary and policy journey. At the summit, the grain is appearing in forms that range from ragi dosa and finger millet payasam to millet cookies and contemporary wellness offerings. Alongside them are regional snacks, indigenous fruits, traditional vegetables, Indian spices and dishes inspired by family kitchens across the country. For the hotels preparing food for international delegations, the challenge is not simply to serve Indian food. It is to make India’s enormous culinary diversity accessible to guests from different cultures while retaining the ingredients and traditions that make the cuisine distinctly Indian. And in that spread of regional recipes and contemporary creations, millets – once largely associated with traditional and rural diets – are taking a prominent place on the international table.
