The Magic Pot of Porridge

The first tale in the breakfast section in Fairy Tale Feasts is The Magic Pot of Porridge which is a story of a poor girl who lives in poverty with her mother and goes looking for food. The girl stumbles across an old woman who gives her a magic pot that, when told "Cook, little pot, cook," would cook as much porridge as they want, and when told, "Stop, little pot, stop" it would stop. The pot ended the pairs poverty but one day the girl goes out and leaves her mother, who forgets the words to say to stop the pot and so by the time the girl comes home the whole village has been flooded by porridge and people who wanted to get home had to eat their way back. 

This tale was recorded by The Brothers Grimm named Sweet Porridge and is German folklore. There were many different types of tales like this one, such as Why the Sea is Salt and The Sorcerer's Apprentice which have similar themes, it was quite a trend in fairy stories. 

These tales had the common theme of magic becoming uncontrollable when left in the wrong hands and the idea that the apprentice will abuse the power for personal gain. The Magic Pot of Porridge does not quite present this story idea in the same way however so it slightly alters the moral through its use of food. The mother is not making the porridge with magic simply because she is lazy or greedy like in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the mother simply wants some food for her hunger but has not listened well enough to instructions. 

 The Magic Pot of Porridge presents the moral of listening carefully or you may end up making a silly mistake that can cost you a great deal. It also explores the ideas of extreme poverty and the lengths people will go to for food. Porridge is well known in Europe as something that was often fed to the poor, being good for you and very filling. 

The recipe is a very simple one in the book  with just your basic ingredients and method but on the other side offers you a list of variations and extras you can add. 

I picked the variation that says to add maple syrup and sugar, as I have a sweet tooth when it comes to porridge. 

Here is my version. I even stirred it in the pan with a wooden spoon to be more authentic as Fairy Tale Feasts little information segments said that it was eaten with a wooden spoon because metal became too hot. 

More from Fairy Tale Feasts to come soon.

Sammy xx