INTERNATIONAL DAYGENERAL

World Porridge Day

World Porridge Day turns a humble bowl of warm grain into fuel for hungry kids everywhere. Stir up your favorite recipe on October 10 and help feed children in some of the poorest countries on the planet.

OCT10

Sunday, October 10Every year on October 10

days to go

Roots: First held in 2009, championed by the charity Mary's Meals and the World Porridge Making Championship in Carrbridge, Scotland.
Also on Oct 10: World Hospice and Palliative Care Day · International African Penguin Awareness Day · International Stage Management Day
Hashtag: #WorldPorridgeDay

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3 ways to celebrate

AT HOME

Cook a new porridge

Try a porridge you have never made: congee with toppings, Swedish oatmeal with lingonberries, or classic Scottish porridge with salt.

WITH FRIENDS

Host a topping tasting

Each person brings a topping and judges the best bowl. Loser does the dishes.

AT WORK OR SCHOOL

Serve a charity breakfast

Set up a morning porridge bar in the break room and collect donations for Mary's Meals.

Plan ahead

World Porridge Day is observed on October 10 every year. Here is where it lands for the next ten years, handy for planners, marketers and party people.

2026Sat, Oct 10this year

2027Sun, Oct 10

2028Tue, Oct 10

2029Wed, Oct 10

2030Thu, Oct 10

2031Fri, Oct 10

2032Sun, Oct 10

2033Mon, Oct 10

2034Tue, Oct 10

2035Wed, Oct 10

2036Fri, Oct 10

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Fast facts

Mary's Meals provides daily school meals to more than 1.6 million children in 19 countries.

Just £13.90 feeds a child with Mary's Meals for an entire school year.

The story

The first World Porridge Day was held in 2009 by Mary's Meals, a Scottish charity serving school meals to children in some of the world's poorest communities. The little Highland village of Carrbridge, home of the annual World Porridge Making Championship, teamed up with Mary's Meals to make it an international day.

Read the full story

The date honors the champion's golden spurtle, the wooden stirring stick awarded to the world's best porridge maker. Traditional Scottish porridge is just oats, salt, and water, stirred slowly, while championship day also celebrates the wild and wonderful specialty porridges.

In Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, Mary's Meals serves likuni phala, a maize-based porridge, as a daily school meal. One mug of porridge draws chronically hungry children into class and gives them an education that can break the cycle of poverty.

Did you know?

Before the word existed

The word porridge was not used until the 1600s, though people had been grinding and cooking cereals in water or milk since ancient times.

The golden spurtle

The top prize is the golden spurtle, a wooden stick made for stirring porridge. It is exactly as gloriously silly as it sounds.

Groats, not goats

Whole oat grains are called groats. They are heated and dried in kilns, which gives oats their nutty flavor and keeps them fresh longer.

The purist rule

Scots traditionally insist porridge should be cooked with only salt, water, and oats. Anything else goes on top, after the fact.

A porridge partner

Stoats Porridge Bars was the official World Porridge Day partner in 2016, proving porridge pairs well with everything.

Around the world

Every culture celebrates a little differently.

·ScotlandTraditional porridge is oats, salt, and water, stirred with a spurtle. Scots defend this recipe with friendly fierceness.
CNChinaCongee, rice porridge, is served with toppings like meat, eggs, vegetables, or pickles.
·AfricaMaize or millet porridge is flavored with peanut butter or honey, and in Malawi it feeds schoolchildren daily.
MWMalawiMary's Meals serves likuni phala, a nutrient-rich maize porridge, as a daily school meal.
SESwedenThe first World Porridge Day included gatherings in Sweden, alongside the United States, France, Malawi, and Bosnia.