An Inconvenient Food

One of the things you're supposed to do when you have high cholesterol is eat oatmeal, not just once in a while, but every damn day. If you look into oatmeal, though, you discover that the steel-cut sort tastes better than the quick kind. It's sort of like trying real maple syrup after eating Aunt Jemima. On the other hand, quick oats live up to their name—they're ready in about three minutes. Comparatively, it takes more than a half hour to cook some steel-cut oats, which is a long, long time to wait for breakfast, especially if you're going to work that day. This morning is MLK Day, so I'm not, but I was on Willow Duty and she threw a prolonged fit waiting for her oats to cook. There seems to be no way around this extended prep time. I've tried soaking oats the night before, but that didn't make it go much faster. I've also tried cooking it the previous night, but they don't taste as good. Turning up the heat only results in burnt oats sticking to the bottom of the pot. All this no doubt slows the adoption of steel-cut oats. But does it have to? I was thinking manufacturers could play up the long prep time in advertising, sort of like how the Peek Frean people did by stating that theirs was a serious cookie, not for the masses. McCann and other steel oats makers could claim their oats are for those who are willing to put in the time. Then again, in our time-starved society, maybe that's not such a great idea.

—Todd