Porridge[1] is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water.

[2] It is typically eaten for breakfast by itself or with other ingredients, including salt, sugar, fruit, milk, cream, or butter.

[3][4][5] Unenriched porridge (as oatmeal), cooked by boiling or microwave, is 84% water, and contains 12% carbohydrates, including 2% dietary fiber and 2% each of protein and fat (table).

In a 100 g (3.5 oz) reference amount, cooked porridge provides 71 calories and contains 26% of the Daily Value (DV) for manganese, with no other micronutrients in significant content (table).

[9] Oats for porridge may be whole (groats), cut into two or three pieces (called "pinhead", "steel-cut" or "coarse" oatmeal), ground into medium or fine oatmeal or steamed and rolled into flakes of varying sizes and thicknesses (called "rolled oats", the largest size being "jumbo").

[citation needed] The dish has traditionally been closely associated with Scotland, possibly because oats can be successfully cultivated on marginal upland soils.

[25] Oats were introduced to Scotland in about 600 AD; traces of barley porridge have been found in pots excavated in the Outer Hebrides which have been dated to 2,500 years ago.

Until leavened bread and baking ovens became commonplace in Europe, porridge was a typical means of preparing cereal crops for the table.