Editing Gruel (section)

{{short description|Food consisting of cereal in water or milk}}
{{about|the type of food|the computer worm|Gruel (computer worm)}}
{{Infobox food
| name = Gruel
| image = 
| caption = Rice gruel
| country = 
| region = 
| creator = 
| course = 
| type = [[Porridge]]
| served = 
| main_ingredient = [[Cereal]] meal or flour, [[water]] or [[milk]]
| variations = [[Congee]]
| calories = 
| other = 
}}
'''Gruel''' is a food consisting of some type of [[cereal]]—such as ground [[oats]], [[wheat]], [[rye]], or [[rice]]—heated or boiled in [[water]] or [[milk]]. It is a thinner version of [[porridge]] that may be more often drunk rather than eaten. Historically, gruel has been a [[staple food|staple]] of the Western diet, especially for [[peasant]]s. Gruel may also be made from [[millet]], [[Hemp#Food|hemp]], [[barley]], or, in hard times, from [[chestnut]] flour or even the less-bitter [[acorn]]s of some [[oak]]s. Gruel has historically been associated with feeding the [[patient|sick]]<ref>A gruel of [[cornmeal]], soaked and cooking in a double-boiler, was recommended for [[typhus]] patients in ''The American Journal of Nursing'' '''14'''.4 (January 1914) p. 296.</ref> and recently-[[weaning|weaned]] children.

''Gruel'' is also a colloquial expression for any watery food of unknown character, e.g., [[pea soup]].<ref>The word ''[[soup]]'' is related to ''sop'', the slice of bread which was soaked in broth or thin gruel.</ref><ref>Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, Anthea Bell, tr. ''The History of Food'', revised ed. 2009, p. 161.</ref> Gruel has often been associated with poverty, with negative associations attached to the term in [[popular culture]], as in the [[Charles Dickens]] novels ''[[Oliver Twist]]'' and ''[[A Christmas Carol]]''.