Editing Gruel

{{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]]''.

==History==
Gruel predates the earliest civilizations, emerging in [[hunter-gatherer]] societies as a meal of gathered grains soaked in water. For these societies, the application of water and especially heat to grain improved its digestibility and nutritional content, and sanitized the mixture. This gruel also presented a viable medium for [[Saccharomyces cerevisiae|yeast]] to develop and ferment, serving as an important precursor for both [[bread]] and [[beer]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sinclair |first=Thomas R. |title=Bread, Beer and the Seeds of Change: Agriculture’s Imprint on World History |last2=Sinclair |first2=Carol Janas |publisher=[[CAB International]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-84593-705-8 |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=26-30}}</ref>

Gruel was the [[staple food]] of the [[ancient Greeks]], for whom roasted [[meat]]s were the extraordinary feast that followed sacrifice, even among [[Greek hero cult|heroes]], and "in practice, [[bread]] was a luxury eaten only in towns". Roman [[plebeians]] "ate the staple gruel of classical times, supplemented by oil, the humbler [[vegetable]]s, and salt [[fish]]" <ref>Toussaint-Samat 2009, p. 93.</ref> for gruel could be prepared without access to the [[communal oven]]s in which [[history of bread|bread]] was baked. In the Middle Ages, the peasant could avoid the [[tithe]] exacted by paying in grain ground by the [[miller]] of the landowner's mill. When eaten by the peasant, the process was to roast the grains to make them digestible and grind small portions in a [[mortar and pestle|mortar]] at home. In lieu of cooking the resulting paste on the hearthstone, it could be simmered in a cauldron with water or, luxuriously, with milk.

In the [[United Kingdom]], it was a common remedy for the sick, relatively nourishing and easy to digest, and a standard component of the evening meal in British hospitals into the early 20th century.<ref>{{cite book|title=A pharmacopœia of selected remedies|page=107|author=Edmund Adolphus Kirby|year=1883|publisher=Oxford University}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Simple Fare for Sick Folk: recipes for feeding invalids & convalescents|author=May Byron|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|year=1934}}</ref>

In the [[Americas]], [[maize]] gruels were once one of the main food sources for many Mesoamerican peoples, such as the [[Maya peoples|Maya]] and [[Aztec]]s. [[Atole]] is a preparation of ground maize often flavored with [[chili pepper|chili]] and salt (for a savory dish), or, in more modern times, with [[piloncillo]] and [[cinnamon]] (for a sweet dish). It can be consumed as an important calorie source as a thicker meal, or as a liquid drink.

Gruel was on the [[Second and Third-class facilities on the RMS Titanic|third-class menu of the ''Titanic'']] on the eve of her [[Titanic sinking|sinking in April 1912]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shoup |first=Kate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UnlmDwAAQBAJ |title=Life as a Passenger on the Titanic |date=2017-12-15 |publisher=Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC |isbn=978-1-5026-3043-8 |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:The_third_class_menus_of_R.M.S.TITANIC_(April_14._1912）.jpg|thumb|right|alt=The image depicts the third class menu of the RMS Titanic on the day of her sinking on the 14th of April, 1912, showing Gruel as part of the menu.|Third-class menu aboard ''RMS Titanic'' dated 14 April 1912, showing gruel as part of the menu offering]]

== Variations ==
In many Spanish-speaking countries, several gruels are made; the [[masa]]-based drink or spoonable food called [[atole]] or atol de elote is a staple throughout Central America, served hot. It can range in consistency from a thin cloudy drink to a thicker porridge-like food. [[Horchata]] is a chilled sweetened drink of similar nature to thin atole. It is made from ground nutmeats or seeds, grains (often rice) and seasonings such as [[vanilla]] and [[cinnamon]], served over ice.

Rice gruels eaten throughout Asia are normally referred to in English as [[porridge]] as opposed to gruel. Common forms include [[congee]], from the [[Tamil language|Tamil]] word for the food and most common in [[chinese cuisine|Chinese]] zhou/zuk, [[japanese cuisine|Japanese]] okayu, [[korean cuisine|Korean]] juk, [[goto|Filipino]] goto, and [[vietnamese cuisine|Vietnamese]] cháo. Asian porridges/gruels are typically savory{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}, with meat or vegetables added and stock sometimes used as the liquid cooking element.

==Etymology==
The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' gives an etymology of [[Middle English]] ''{{lang|enm|gruel}}'' from the same word in [[Old French]], both of them deriving from a source in [[Late Latin]]: ''{{lang|la|grutellum}}'', a [[diminutive]], as the form of the word demonstrates, possibly from an [[Old Frankish]] ''{{lang|frk|*grūt}}'', surmised on the basis of a modern cognate ''[[grout]]''. In modern Dutch, the plural word "grutten" still refers to de-husked,  coarse ground grain and a traditional dish based on pearlbarley and blackberry is called [[watergruwel]]. The Old French ''gruel'' gave rise to the Modern French ''{{lang|fr|gruau}}'', which in [[North America]] is used for [[porridge]] and [[oatmeal]] as modern breakfast cereals.

The Old Norse word ''{{lang|non|grautr}}'', meaning "coarse-ground grain", gives way to the Icelandic ''grautur'', Faroese ''greytur'', Norwegian ''grøt'' ([[nynorsk]] ''graut''), Danish ''grød'', and the Swedish and Elfdalian ''gröt'', all meaning [[porridge]], of which gruel is a subtype.

The German "Grießmehl", ground grain, and Dutch "griesmeel", are compounded cognates to the English ''grist'' and ''meal''.

==In fiction==
[[File:The Writings of Charles Dickens v4 p12 (engraving, cleaned).jpg|thumb|upright|"Oliver asking for more", an [[engraving]] in ''The Writings of [[Charles Dickens]]'' volume 4, published 1894.|alt=A young boy with an empty bold, standing pleadingly in front of an older man, an authority figure]]
In the [[English language|English]]-speaking world, gruel is remembered as the food of the child [[workhouse]] inmates in [[Charles Dickens]]'s [[Industrial Revolution]] novel ''[[Oliver Twist]]'' (1838); the workhouse was supplied with "an unlimited supply of water" and "small quantities of [[oatmeal]]".<ref>''Oliver Twist'', [[s:Oliver Twist/Chapter 2|chapter 2]].</ref> When Oliver asks the master of the workhouse for some more, he is struck with a blow on the head for doing so. The "small saucepan of gruel" waiting upon [[Ebenezer Scrooge]]'s hob in Dickens's 1843 novel ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' emphasizes how [[wikt:miser|miserly]] Scrooge is. Gruel is also Mr. Woodhouse's preferred and offered dish in Jane Austen's ''[[Emma (novel)|Emma]]'' (1816), often to comic or sympathetic effect. References to gruel in popular culture today continue to refer to miserly or starvation conditions, such as [[Gemma Collins]] in ''[[Celebrity Big Brother 17]]'' (2016), who was denied food for gruel.<ref>There have been many parodies of ''Oliver Twist''; for instance, in ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Kamp Krusty]]", Bart and some of the other children are forced to eat "[[Krusty the Clown|Krusty]] Brand Imitation Gruel" as their only meal, punctuated by the comment "Nine out of ten [[orphan]]s can't tell the difference."</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.mrbreakfast.com/ask.asp?askid=10 Ask Mr Breakfast — What is gruel and did orphans really eat it?]
*[https://www.boredpanda.com/titanic-food-menu-first-second-third-class-passengers/ Titanic Food Menu]

[[Category:Porridges]]
[[Category:Staple foods]]
[[Category:Ancient dishes]]
[[Category:Peasant food]]