Thursday, 5 May 2016

69. A Bowl of Porridge by Guthrie Hutton


BOOK REVIEW: A Bowl of Porridge by Guthrie Hutton

If we are sick, our mums will usually feed us bowl after bowl of steaming porridge, whether it be chicken, vegetables or just plain rice cooked down with some broth. It feels good to swallow this smooth concoction when we have a sore throat. Even if we aren’t sick, we eat porridge for its feel good factor, the warmth and the wisps of smoke from a hot bowl of porridge reminds us of mum’s caring arms. But do we actually know the humble origins of this comfort food? This book has all you need to know on the history of porridge and its benefits to you.

The Scots’ consumption of oats is legendary. Oatmeal was often called meal and porridge is meal thickened in a pot of boiling water. Porridge even has different names – potage, parritch, parridge, porritch, or in Gaelic, brochan.

Gruel, brose and sowans were also made by mixing oatmeal and water, as were some regional variations with strange sounding names like blerie, bluthrie, gogar, lowlands, milgruel, willins and others.

Porridge is found in the cuisine of almost every country but the Scots have pulled off a remarkable trick by getting the rest of the world to recognize oatmeal porridge as the one true porridge, and to regard it as uniquely Scottish.

The author has looked into his bowl of porridge and come up with a fascinating history of this humble and nutritious dish, with relevance for today’s health conscious palate.


Sitting with a cold on bed with a leaden head, I read this book. At this moment, my mum enters with a bowl of porridge with carrots and potato and a side dish of salted vegetable omelette. Trust me, if heaven was this good, I want to be there everyday.

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