Get off to a great start: Shirley Spear prepares perfect porridge

“The children refuse to eat it,” I hear you say. Or: "There is no time to get breakfast ready." And I sympathise, because this is all part of the problem we face together in Scotland. We need to get back to the best of basic food and value its importance in our lives.

I understand why breakfast clubs, after-school clubs and holiday clubs are vital to ensure that many thousands of Scottish children receive basic meals every day. However, I am quite alarmed that schools are increasingly almost expected to provide food for our children, at all times of the day. I know this helps working parents and those less fortunate, but should we question why so many parents almost depend upon their children being looked after elsewhere, other than at home?

I know this may cause controversy. But truly, there is no-one more important in a child’s life than their parent(s) and nowhere should be regarded as more secure than a child’s own kitchen table, where each can feel sure of finding a simple, hot meal, comfort and security at least twice each day, early morning and in the evening after school. Why aren't we encouraging everyone to enjoy and take pride in the most natural of household tasks?

It's true that there are huge issues of poverty to overcome, but we have dealt with poverty for centuries in Scotland. This is nothing new. However, the standards we set ourselves in bringing up our families are very different and much more challenging in our supposedly more sophisticated society. I believe that this is where the difference lies and we all need to try to turn around attitudes towards the importance of giving priority to basic home comforts. Family must come first.

My mother went back to work full-time when I started school and I had a school dinner every day of my life. I am one of a generation that looked forward to free school milk, no matter how warm and sickly it may have become sitting in the metal crate beside the classroom radiator. But not everyone was lucky enough to have a play-piece to eat with it during the interval, so we were all ravenous by the time the lunchtime bell went. Hardly anyone had a packed lunch either and there was nowhere to spend precious pocket money (if we had any) except beyond the school gate.

Mornings in our family home were always chaotic and by the late 1950s and 1960s we had resorted to the American-style attractions of cornflakes and rice crispies. Great play was made of the fact these were “fortified with vitamins”, as it said on every colourful packet. We did not have the wide selection of cereals and breakfast bars available today, but we had fresh, full-cream milk delivered to the doorstep daily, so there was always plenty to pour over the cereal. And while cereals weren't as sugar-laden as they can be now, we all sprinkled sugar over them – and on our porridge. Worse still, we poured golden syrup over porridge and this, along with the cold, creamy milk, tasted gorgeous. Perhaps extra sugar wasn't so much of a problem as we burned it off walking to school and were sent out to run, skip and play rowdy, competitive games in the playground, every day, in all weathers.

As a teenager, I lapsed into taking a roll and marmalade, hastily stuffed into my schoolbag for eating at the morning interval. Like most teenagers, an extra five minutes in a warm bed was preferable to facing the day. But we didn't have money to waste on sugary drinks, and other than water from the drinking fountain, there was nothing until the jug of water on the dining hall table at lunchtime.

I often wonder how we managed to get through each day without resorting to snacking and what has brought about the massive, modern revolution for food-on-the-go at all times of the day and night. Grabbing a bite to eat, with multi-choice coffee in a throwaway cup from one of the hundreds of cafes, stations and shopping centres, is completely normal now and is an enormous business money-spinner. "Meals" are available everywhere; fast, ready-made food is a telephone call away. There is no need to plan, shop and cook, even on the simplest scale.

This is a very expensive way to live and it must make those who do not have a large income feel unnecessarily deprived. .

It is much better to leave the house with something inside you, to keep you awake and attentive at work or at school. Breakfast is the most important, least expensive meal of the day and a bowl of porridge is one of the very best. Eat it and the benefits of more energy and weight loss will come along without even trying. Porridge is easy and has adapted to microwave cooking extremely well. This is definitely one fast food you can eat with enjoyment and no guilty pleasure.

Various methods have been handed down through the years, but in my opinion the habit of making it with milk in the microwave is all wrong.

Some die-hards will never make porridge without steeping oatmeal in water overnight before cooking it in the morning in customary style and serving it piping hot with a bowl of cream or fresh, cold milk on the side. This method is also associated with traditions of stirring with the right hand as you slip the handful of oatmeal into the water in a steady stream, with your left. The skill comes with knowing exactly when to add the salt, which should be done part-way through the cooking process. There has also been a debate as to where the best oats are grown.

Throughout my lifetime, oats have been milled in Scotland, steamed and rolled to create the perfect product for "instant" porridge-making in a saucepan, packaged and sold as a very well-known brand. This is the most unadulterated way to enjoy a bowl of "modern" porridge, as even the microwaveable portions are mixed with some additives to enable them to cook instantly. There is no need to add sugar, but once the cold milk has been added to the bowl of hot cereal, a sprinkling of something sweet to melt into the hot mixture is appealing. Soft brown sugar, or unrefined muscovado sugar, are my personal favourites. Some love a spoonful of runny honey while others add cinnamon and perhaps some fresh fruit or berries as a topping. A spoonful of fresh double cream and a dash of whisky is a offers a touch of luxury on a special day. Heather honey with whisky and oats is an age-old combination in Scotland’s culinary heritage.

Porridge

(Serves 1)

1 cup porridge oats

2 cups of cold water

1 good pinch cooking salt

A splash of cold milk

Method

1. Place oats and water in a saucepan.

2. Place saucepan on a medium heat and bring slowly to boil, stirring from time to time.

3. Once it comes to the boil and is starting to thicken, reduce heat to the lowest simmer, add salt and cover with a lid. Leave to cook very slowly for a further five minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking. It should be "just right", as Goldilocks once said – not too thick and not too salty.

4. Serve piping hot into a cold bowl. Make a dip with your spoon in the centre of the porridge and pour cold milk into it. Add flavouring of your choice as described above, if required.

Shirley Spear is owner of The Three Chimneys and The House Over-By on the Isle of Skye, and chairwoman of the Scottish Food Commission, which is helping to build Scotland into a Good Food Nation. See threechimeneys.co.uk