Porridge in the context of "Bowl"

European cuisine (also known as Continental cuisine) comprises the cuisines originating from the various countries of Europe.

The cuisines of European countries are diverse, although some common characteristics distinguish them from those of other regions. Compared to traditional cooking of East Asia, meat holds a more prominent and substantial role in serving size. Many dairy products are utilised in cooking. There are hundreds of varieties of cheese and other fermented milk products. White wheat-flour bread has long been the prestige starch, but historically, most people ate bread, flatcakes, or porridge made from rye, spelt, barley, and oats. Those better off would also make pasta, dumplings and pastries. The potato has become a major starch plant in the diet of Europeans and their diaspora since the European colonisation of the Americas. Maize is much less common in most European diets than it is in the Americas; however, cornmeal (polenta or mămăligă) is a major part of the cuisines of Italy, the Balkans and the Caucasus. Although flatbreads (especially those with toppings, such as pizza or tarte flambée) and rice are eaten in Europe, they are only staple foods in limited areas, particularly in Southern Europe. Salads—cold dishes with uncooked or cooked vegetables, sometimes with a dressing—are an integral part of European cuisine.

Steel-cut oats (US), also called pinhead oats, coarse oatmeal (UK), or Irish oatmeal, are groats (the inner kernel with the inedible hull removed) of whole oats which have been chopped into two or three pinhead-sized pieces (hence the names; "steel-cut" comes from the steel blades). The pieces can then be sold, or processed further to make rolled oat flakes, of smaller size than flakes of whole groats. Steel-cutting produces oatmeal with a chewier and coarser texture than other processes.

Steel-cut oats, and other types, are traditionally used to make porridge. They take longer to cook than instant, ground, or rolled oats, typically 15–30 minutes for porridge (or about half this time if pre-soaked). Steel-cut oats are described as being nuttier and chewier than other types of oats. They can be used to make oatcakes, blended uncooked in smoothies, and used for other culinary purposes.

Rolled oats are a type of lightly processed whole-grain food. They are made from oat groats that have been dehusked and steamed, before being rolled into flat flakes under heavy rollers and then stabilized by being lightly toasted.

Thick-rolled oats, or old-fashioned oats, usually remain unbroken during processing. Rolled whole oats, without further processing, can be cooked into a porridge and eaten as oatmeal; when the oats are rolled thinner and steam-cooked more in the factory, these thin-rolled oats often become fragmented but they will later absorb water much more easily and cook faster into a porridge; when processed this way are sometimes marketed as "quick" or "instant" oats.

"Goldilocks & the 3 Bears" is a traditional classic 19th-century British fairy tale of which three versions exist. The original version of the tale tells of an impudent and bad old woman who enters the forest home of three anthropomorphic bachelor bears while they are away. She eats some of their porridge, sits down on one of their chairs, breaks it, and sleeps in one of their beds. When the bears return and discover her, she wakes up, jumps out of the window, and is never seen again. The second version replaces the old woman with a young, naive, blonde-haired girl named Goldilocks, and the third and by far best-known version replaces the bachelor bears with a family of three: a father bear, a mother bear, and a baby bear.The story has elicited various interpretations and has been adapted to film, opera, and other media. "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" is one of the most popular fairy tales in the English language.

An entremet or entremets (/ˈɒntrəmeɪ/; French: [ɑ̃tʁəmɛ]; from Old French, literally meaning "between servings") in Medieval French cuisine referred to dishes served between the courses of the meal, often illusion foods and edible scenic displays. The term additionally referred to performances and entertainments presented between the courses. After the mid-17th century, the term referred to certain types of savory and sweet culinary preparations, and to the stage of the meal in “Classical Service” when they were served. Since the early 20th century, the term has more commonly referred only to the sweet preparations of the entremets stage of the meal.

In the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period, an entremet marked the end of a course of the meal and could be a culinary preparation like frumenty (a type of wheat porridge) that was brightly colored and flavored with exotic and expensive spices, or elaborate models of castles complete with wine fountains, musicians, and food modeled into allegorical scenes. By the end of the Middle Ages, entremets had also evolved into dinner entertainment in the form of inedible ornaments or acted performances, often full of the symbolism of power and regality. In English, such displays were more commonly known as a subtlety (also sotelty or soteltie); they did not typically include acted entertainment, but did include culinary jokes like live blackbirds flying out of a pie, a scene immortalized in the folk song "Sing a Song of Sixpence".

Grits is a type of porridge made from coarsely ground dried corn or hominy, the latter being maize that has been treated with an alkali in a process called nixtamalization, with the pericarp (ovary wall) removed. It is eaten primarily in the United States. Grits are cooked in warm salted water or milk. They are often served with flavorings as a breakfast dish, though it also served as a lunch or supper dish, particularly with meat. Grits can be savory or sweet, with savory seasonings being more common. Grits are similar to other thick maize-based porridges from around the world, such as polenta, mieliepap, and mămăligă. The dish originated in the Southern United States but is now available nationwide. Grits are part of the dinner entrée shrimp and grits, served primarily in the Southern United States.

The word "grits" is derived from the Old English word grytt, meaning "coarse meal". In the Charleston, South Carolina area, cooked hominy grits were primarily referred to as "hominy" until the 1980s.

Farina is a form of milled wheat popular in the United States. It is often cooked as a hot breakfast cereal, or porridge. The word farina comes from the Latin word for 'meal' or 'flour'. Farina is milled from hard red wheat (spring or winter variants). In commercially available farina, the bran and most of the germ are removed. Cream of Wheat, Malt-O-Meal, and Farina Mills are popular brand names of breakfast cereal.