"Sweet Porridge" you say.. How sweet are we talking?!

Warm sweet porridge... Mmmmmm. If you're from where I am from, Jamaica, you most probably love Cornmeal porridge. If you've never heard of it, it is a sweet and filling traditional Jamaican breakfast. Click the link below and you will thank me later! Let me know in the comments section if you try out this recipe :D 

"Sweet Porridge" Jamaican Style!

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Anyway, back to the Grimm brothers fairy tales! "The Sweet Porridge" or "The Magic Porridge Pot" as it is also known as in contemporary versions, reflects the desperate circumstances that Jacob and Wilhem faced in their childhood. When I recently read this fairy tale I couldn't help but wonder why the Grimm Brother's decided to create a magic pot rather than an ordinary pot of porridge, so I did a bit of research. I suppose the scenario is great if you are a lover of sweet porridge, but if you don't like it then this must be the worst possible scenario to be in as it is the only choice of food you've got! 

From 1437 to 1439 "there was a succession of wet summers and harvests were ruined, the peasantry was reduced to eating such herbs and roots as they could gather from the hedgerows, and thousands died."(Drummond and Wilbraham, 88)[2] "Sweet Porridge" most definitely reflects these times. The girls mother is widowed so financial hardship is big struggle. The girl ventures into the 
woods to find something edible and stumbles across an old lady who gives her a magic pot that would cook sweet millet porridge. Famine and food deprivation was a frequent struggle of life in Europe during the Middle Ages, so one can understand how these circumstances can lead to a fantasy such as a magic pot that produces endless sweet porridge. Understanding that its through adverse circumstances that the Grimm brothers fantasised and wrote a fairy tale about a magic porridge pot allows us to appreciate the concept that little bit more.

"The sweet porridge" is not just a magical story about endless yummy porridge but rather a story that "relies upon habitual and chronic hunger as a driving force." (Daniel, 63) Hunger is a powerful force that can either produce a great thing; endless sweet porridge, or produce a bad thing (see my 'Candy House Trap' post). 


How to make porridge in 5 ways!


References:
[1] http://www.slaphappylarry.com/fairytale-study-the-magic-porridge-pot/
[2] Daniel, C. Voracious Children. Routledge, 2009.
[3] https://giphy.com/