Society & Culture
It is not true, as the humor website Cracked satirically suggests, that oatmeal was invented by a research scientist at Britain's Royal Academy of Adhesives and Sealants during an experiment in search of new forms of industrial glue. But if your idea of oatmeal is the pasty variety made in a microwave from a packet, the story can seem plausible. In Scotland they know better. Their oatmeal, or porridge, is a hallowed dish, celebrated every year at the World Porridge Making Championship in the village of Carrbridge. No wonder, then, that Samuel Johnson defined oats as "a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland appears to support the people." The Scots were hardly the first to cultivate oats, but for reasons of geography and climate they were among the first to appreciate them. Oats have been around for thousands of years, the oldest known grains traceable to Egypt's 12th Dynasty, around 2000 B.C., though the Chinese may have been familiar with them even