by Sarah Vigue

Created on: July 03, 2008

From the kingdom where Grendel was slain by Beowulf to the orphanage where Oliver Twist asked, "Please sir, I want some more," gruel has shown its versatile face. It is incessantly referred to as something plain, only eaten when nothing else is available and even as a food meant to punish the eater. However, there are other ways to view gruel. In fact, there are many ways to make just a basic gruel or porridge. The recipe really just depends on the country and even the country's specific regions. Many cultures happily subsist on this water or milk and grain mixture today. Gruel may have a bad reputation at first thought, but it is a historical food that has lasted through the ages. If gruel had just one large ugly face throughout history, would it continue to exist?

Naturally, people will want to try exotic foods and to eat the very best they can eat. Who gets excited about eating oatmeal with friends and family at some important function? Finding that person would be as difficult as looking for a needle in a hay stack. In various old tales and lore, ogres and giants are the characters seen with their constant bowl of gruel. Of course they eat nothing but gruel. They are miserable and closed off from villages where there would be fresh foods and new recipes to try. So the ogres and giants slop their simply thrown together gruel from a bowl and messily shove their porridge covered spoons into their mouths. The despondent creatures move through the forests at a grueling pace and get angry when harassed by some one or, as the 18th century colloquial expression goes, when someone "gets their gruel." Sound like a food with which you want to be associated?

Grits

Well, what if the food wasn't a general reference to any type of mushy food with no distinct flavor? In the South (United States), gruel is actually called grits. This hominy dish is so popular that instant grits have been commercialized and sold all over the States. For many breakfast eaters, cereal has taken a back seat to bowls full of cheese grits or plates of eggs, bacon and plain grits. Sweetened corn gruel with a little milk instead of the usual water gives cornmeal a fresh new taste every time.

Cream of Wheat

The New England version of gruel is a little less versatile, but Cream of Wheat can still be made into a suitable breakfast or a warm bowl of comfort in the dead of winter. Some syrup on the hot semolina grounds with the right amount of water is more of a panacea than punishment in a bowl.

Oatmeal

The

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