Unusual Sports: World Porridge Making Championship 2024
By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
The 2024 World Porridge Making Championship has taken place in Carrbridge, in the Cairngorms National Park, in Scotland.
This annual event has been held since 1994 and attracts competitors not only from Scotland, the home of porridge, but also from several countries around the world, including the winner in 2023, who was from Pakistan!
Two prizes are in contention.
The first is the ‘Golden Spurtle Trophy’ and title ‘World Porridge Making Champion’, which is awarded to the best traditional porridge, made only with oatmeal, water and salt.
The second is awarded for the best ‘Specialty Porridge’, made with oatmeal and other ingredients chosen by the competitors.
This year’s winners are Chris Ormiston and Kim McGhee respectively.
Ormiston is a third time lucky winner, who comes from Scotland, and McGhee, who is from the Philippines.
For the uninitiated, porridge is a breakfast cereal made by heating crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water; and a spurtle is a wooden kitchen tool, used in Scotland and dating from the 15th Century, for stirring porridge, and designed for avoiding lumps in the finished product.
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘
