Difference between porridge and pottage
Anyone in Nigeria who spends much time in the kitchen every day knows the difference between porridge and pottage. What about those who eat the meals, but not cook the food? Visitors who travel to Nigeria and other African countries and come across ‘pottage’ and ‘porridge’ words often confuse the two terms. What do they both really mean?
Even when you read recipes and wish to prepare something new or unusual for dinner, you can see pottage and porridge made of yam. Are these two different meals or are they exactly the same in Nigeria and across the globe?
Porridge meaning in Europe
There are numerous ways to spell this particular word. You can meet it as 'porage'. It can be 'parritch'. And it can be 'porridge' and even 'porrige'. All the four spellings can be found, and they all mean the same process of making food that includes pieces of starchy plants (mostly grains such as oats, corn, rice, wheat etc.) being boiled in water (sometimes, in milk).
Porridge is a common word used in Great Britain to describe the oat porridge that is eaten for breakfast by millions of people. Such meal can be salty or sweet. It can include fruit, some creams, and butter as well as milk.
In other European countries, porridge is used to describe the meal made from different grains (rice, buckwheat, semolina etc.) when these grains are boiled in water. Such meal can be eaten hot with butter or some kind of sauce.
Porridge in Nigeria
Nigerians don't cook European type of porridge. Our 'porridge' is actually 'pottage' and it is cooked with yam, beans, different vegetables and often meat. The actual meaning of the term 'pottage' describes Nigerian 'porridge' as in in our country the two words are treated as synonyms.
Pottage meaning
This word has its definition given by the Oxford dictionary (the Companion to Food division). It explains that people used the word pottage centuries ago to describe staple foods they ate. The term has a long history. It originates from the Old French root also used in ‘potage’ word.
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There are also sources that say that the word ‘pottage’ could come from ‘a pot’ since this is the dish used to mix and prepare a number of ingredients together in Nigeria and across the world.
Pottage means the meal prepared from different ingredients (often vegetables and meat or fish, seldom grains), that are boiled to turn into a stew or soup (the one that is thick and rich in nutrients). People used to make pottage in a pot adding different ingredients they had and keeping it on fire for several days, eating parts and mixing the leftovers with new ingredients. In other words, it could change and be a different meal nearly every day.
What is the difference between pottage and porridge?
The two terms are used to describe meals. Porridge, in its classical meaning, mainly refers to the original English oatmeal or other porridges made of grains. Pottage is widely used in Nigeria and many other African countries, mainly as a synonym to porridge. Both porridge and pottage in Nigeria mean the main dish.
Most Nigerians make no difference between porridge and pottage. They just use yam (it is often mashed) with vegetables (if possible, with meat or fish as well) to boil in water and make delicious stew or soup to have as their main meal. Grains are mostly not used as part of this dish.
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Source: Legit.ng
