The oat, sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name. Oats appear to have been domesticated as a secondary crop, as their seeds resembled those of other cereals closely enough for them to be included by early cultivators. Oats tolerate cold winters less well than cereals such as wheat, barley, and rye, but need less summer heat and more rain, making them important in areas such as Northwest Europe that have cool wet summers. They can tolerate low-nutrient and acid soils. Oats grow thickly and vigorously, allowing them to outcompete many weeds, and compared to other cereals are relatively free from diseases.
Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, fruit, or syrup to make a sweet cereal, or it can be mixed with spices, meat, or vegetables to make a savoury dish. It is usually served hot in a bowl, depending on its consistency. Oat porridge, or oatmeal, is one of the most common types of porridge. Gruel is a thinner version of porridge and congee is a savoury variation of porridge of Asian origin.
Breakfast cereal is a category of food, including food products, made from processed cereal grains that are eaten as part of breakfast, or as a snack food, primarily in Western societies.
Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and commonly other ingredients such as sweeteners, spices, flavourings and sometimes eggs.
Gruel is a food consisting of some type of cereal—such as ground oats, wheat, rye, or rice—heated or boiled in water or milk. It is a thinner version of porridge that may be more often drunk rather than eaten. Historically, gruel has been a staple of the Western diet, especially for peasants. Gruel may also be made from millet, hemp, barley, or, in hard times, from chestnut flour or even the less bitter acorns of some oaks. Gruel has historically been associated with feeding the sick and recently-weaned children.
Kissel or kisel is a simple dish with the consistency of a thick gel, and made of sweet fruit, berry, grains, peas, or from milk. It belongs to the group of cold-solidified desserts, although it can be served warm.
Groats are the hulled kernels of various cereal grains, such as oats, wheat, rye, and barley. Groats are whole grains that include the cereal germ and fiber-rich bran portion of the grain, as well as the endosperm.
In English, kasha usually refers to the pseudocereal buckwheat or its culinary preparations. In Eastern European cuisine, kasha can apply to any kind of cooked grain. It can be baked but most often is boiled, either in water or milk, and therefore the term coincides with the English definition of 'porridge', but the word can also refer to the grain before preparation, which corresponds to the definition of 'groats'. Kasha is eaten widely in Belarus (каша), the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Moldova, Russia (каша), Slovakia, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine (каша), where the term, besides buckwheat, can apply to wheat, barley, oats, millet, rye and even rice. Kasha has been an important element of Slavic diet for at least 1,000 years.
Hasty pudding is a pudding or porridge of grains cooked in milk or water. In the United States, it often refers specifically to a version made primarily with ground ("Indian") corn, and it is most known for being mentioned in the lyrics of "Yankee Doodle", a traditional American song of the eighteenth century.
Rolled oats are a type of lightly processed whole-grain food. They are made from oat groats that have been dehusked and steamed, before being rolled into flat flakes under heavy rollers and then stabilized by being lightly toasted.
Brose is a Scots word for an uncooked form of porridge, whereby oatmeal is mixed with boiling water and allowed to stand for a short time. It is eaten with salt and butter, milk, or buttermilk. A version of brose made with ground oats and cold water is called crowdie, although that term is more often used for a type of cheese.
Yemeni cuisine is distinct from the wider Middle Eastern cuisines with regional variation. Although some foreign influences are evident in some regions of the country, the Yemeni kitchen is based on similar foundations across the country.
Steel-cut oats (US), also called pinhead oats, coarse oatmeal (UK), or Irish oatmeal, are groats of whole oats which have been chopped into two or three pinhead-sized pieces. The pieces can then be sold, or processed further to make rolled oat flakes, of smaller size than flakes of whole groats. Steel-cutting produces oatmeal with a chewier and coarser texture than other processes.
Quaker Instant Oatmeal is a type of oatmeal made by the Quaker Oats Company, first launched in 1966. It is crafted from whole grain oats.
Scottish cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with Scotland. It has distinctive attributes and recipes of its own, but also shares much with other British and wider European cuisine as a result of local, regional, and continental influences — both ancient and modern.
A full breakfast or fry-up is a substantial cooked breakfast meal often served in Great Britain and Ireland. Depending on the region, it may also be referred to as a full English, a full Irish, full Scottish, full Welsh or Ulster fry. The fried breakfast became popular in Great Britain and Ireland during the Victorian era, with the full breakfast appearing in Isabella Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861).
An oatcake is a type of flatbread similar to a cracker or biscuit, or in some versions takes the form of a pancake. They are prepared with oatmeal as the primary ingredient, and sometimes include plain or wholemeal flour as well. Oatcakes are cooked on a griddle or baked in an oven.
Irish cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with the island of Ireland. It has developed from antiquity through centuries of social and political change and the mixing of different cultures, predominantly with those from nearby Britain and other European regions. The cuisine is founded upon the crops and animals farmed in its temperate climate and the abundance of fresh fish and seafood from the surrounding waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Chowder, for example, is popular around the coasts. Herbs and spices traditionally used in Irish cuisine include bay leaves, black pepper, caraway seeds, chives, dill, horseradish, mustard seeds, parsley, ramsons, rosemary, sage and thyme.
Quaker-brand single-serving flavoured "instant" oatmeal packet to make a quick oat porridge
Baked oatmeal in a dish
Oatmeal is a prime ingredient of haggis, seen here at a Burns supper
Porridge made from 1-minute quick-cooking rolled oats with raisins, peanut butter, honey, and cinnamon.
Apple oatmeal pizza
Finely ground oatmeal with berries
Oatcakes (top) with clapshot
Atholl brose, a Scottish beverage
White (left) and black (right) puddings containing oatmeal
Packaged Dutch havermoutpap from Melkunie
