Oatmeal is a warm breakfast food made by cooking oats in water or milk until they soften into a thick, creamy porridge. You might eat a bowl of oatmeal on a cold morning, perhaps with brown sugar, cinnamon, berries, or maple syrup stirred in.

Oats are grains that grow in fields like wheat or corn, and they're especially nutritious and filling. When you cook them, they absorb the liquid and swell up, creating that characteristic thick texture. Some people prefer their oatmeal smooth and creamy, while others like it chunkier with more texture.

The word can also refer to the uncooked oats themselves. At the grocery store, you might see containers of instant oatmeal (which cooks in minutes), quick oats, or old-fashioned rolled oats (which take longer but have a heartier texture). Steel-cut oats take even longer to cook but have a nutty, chewy quality that many people love.

Oatmeal has been a breakfast staple for centuries, partly because oats grow well in cool climates and partly because they provide steady energy that lasts through the morning. Athletes often eat oatmeal before competitions, and many families have traditions of making oatmeal with particular toppings passed down through generations.