My family’s encounter with oats happened in much the same way as it happens in thousands of other Indian households. The husband is found to have high cholesterol or high triglycerides and strict dietary changes are recommended for immediate implementation. One of these changes is to introduce oats as the breakfast cereal. Then, for various reasons(convenience being the main one) the rest of the family too switches to it – for a working woman, it isn’t easy to make separate items for every family member during the morning rush.
In my home, the entry of oats happened in two phases: I first started out using one of the local brands. My husband said “Yuck” and my kids refused to have anything to do with it, preferring to stick to their toast, butter, jam, biscuits and coffee. I tried various recipes for making the oats more palatable but none of them seemed to work.
Then one day at the departmental store, I saw Quaker Oats. I had seen the ads and I liked the packaging. So I bought it. I thought a change of taste would help my husband cope with the breakfast boredom he was facing. It worked!
In fact, there were mornings when he would take a second helping. He liked the taste and he even confessed that it appeared that the oats were gradually bringing his constipation under control. A few mornings later, my kids decided to give it a try – and voila! Soon everyone was having oats for breakfast. And here’s the funny thing: all of us were eating oats for different reasons. Me – it helped me lose weight. My husband said it helped keep constipation at bay. My son felt it added to his sportsman’s fitness practice by enabling him to start his day with a high-carbohydrate intake. And as for my daughter – well, she just loved the taste.
There’s a lot of variety that one can bring to the breakfast table with Quaker Oats. One can use plain milk or flavoured milk. One can add banana slices and other fruits like grapes, apple wedges and mango pieces. One can have it hot or cold depending on the season and the weather. There is also the option of cooking non-breakfast items – just like one has Poha for meals.
As a packaged cereal option, Quaker Oats is certainly more expensive in comparison with many other standard breakfast items. Also, it finishes faster because people will invariably ask for second helpings. But the bottomline is that it’s worth it.