Oat Groats: Healthy Food in Need of a PR Makeove

In an effort to improve my diet, I bought some oat groats the other day, cooked them overnight in my crockpot, and had a hot and delicious breakfast ready for me the next day.

Ready for me. Not, however, ready for my kids. They are used to oatmeal, the regular rolled oats kind.

"What is this stuff?" my daughter asked.

"Oat groats," I said. "Like oatmeal, only healthier."

"Bleh!"

My toddler, who had been happily eating, put down his spoon, because he follows his siblings in all things food. If they don't eat it, he won't either.

It did not escape my family's notice that "groats" sounds a lot like "gross." I was the only one who really ate my groats that morning.

Which is a shame, because they're very healthy. Karen's Kitchen has a great explanation of all the different types of oats (groats, steel cut, thick, regular, and quick) and their nutritional value. But the reality is, oat groats, despite the fact that they are super-easy to make and uber-nutritious, aren't going to get very far in the world of feeding picky eaters without a good PR makeover.

Here are some ideas (I'm no PR expert, but if the Oat Groats Growers ever want to use these ideas, I will allow them to free of charge, for the greater good. I'm generous like that.):

1-Oat Groats need a new name!! Something that does not sound like "gross" if you pronounce it sloppily. Here are some ideas:
"Oat Pudding Mix." That's a good one. A bit misleading, but really, when you cook them up they make this pudding-like substance. And it's no more misleading than "Oat Groats" in terms of expectations created by the name.
"Original Oats" Okay, I think that's even better. Because they really are oats as original as we can eat them.
"Floaty Oats" Because it rhymes, like "oats" and "groats."

2-In the absence of a new name, or in addition to one, Oat Groats need a zippy slogan. Also a mascot. I'm thinking a horse--since horses eat oats, this would be perfect. We could have a commercial with a cartoon horse eating them, and then the horse could show his teeth and say "Original Oats: take it from the horse's mouth, there's nothing better."

3- Better packaging! What's up with the plastic bag and bulk bin stuff? Hell-o! Oat groats growers, that's no way to promote your product, people! If you want people to eat what you grow, you've got to at least get a cardboard box, with maybe that horse on the side.

Okay, so maybe none of these things are realistic. I'm thinking the market for oat groats as breakfast cereal is very, very small. My guess is that the oat groats growers are more concerned about how many horses eat their product than how many people (I assume. Don't horses eat oats? Anyway.) But that's a pity. Because Original Floaty Pudding Mix Oat Groats are good eats.

--Emily M.