Grød Festival!

Porridge Festival!
Saturday afternoon I ventured into Copenhagen to meet up with some friends from Positive Psychology. Evan had found a notice on facebook about a Porridge Festival (yes, that's right), and not just any porridge festival, Copenhagen's First Ever Porridge Festival! Apparently the organizers were trying to advertise porridge as a cheap, filling, easy-to-make, delicious, breakfast alternative and so they were putting on a free event to get people interested. We (Helen, Ilana, Felicia, Rosie, Kayleigh, Evan, and I) met up at DIS and walked several blocks to the venue.

It was freezing cold, and our fingers and toes were like ice by the time that we arrived. Outside you got to make your own breakfast porridge, and luckily for us, there was a fire going while we waited in line. They were also serving hot apple cider and Indian soup (which seems odd now that I think about it).

A view from above: in the middle was the line to make your own instant porridge;
on the right was where you could get cider or soup.

Helen is enthusiastically adding oats to her cup and getting ready to use the grinder to add more grains

Optional toppings at the other end of the table: nuts, dried fruits, seeds

Assembly line (cute child making porridge)

Felicia, Me, Evan enjoying porridge and cider

The Rules! (Through teamwork, we managed
to understand most of them)

Inside was where the real fun started! With our bellies warm and full we found our way up the stairs where the competition was going on (yes, a porridge-making competition). The contestants were chefs from some of the best known restaurants in CPH. Each contestant was given 250 DKK to purchase their ingredients and then in two rounds of four contestants, they were given 30 minutes (displayed on a giant count-down clock) to create their edible masterpieces!
You would not have believed how crowded it was. Young children, couples, families, students, were all crowded around the chefs as they cooked. The funniest part was the photographers and camera crews. I had almost as much fun photographing the photographers as I did photographing the actual cooking.

One of the chefs, looking calm and collected at the start of the 30 minutes

Another chef getting started 

The crowd watching them work (also note the video camera)

Things were heating up (haha)!

Finally, with a dramatic countdown (fem, fir, tres, to, en!) the time was up! The chefs put their porridge in a bowl/plate for the judges and then also had have prepared enough for the crowd to sample it too.

The chef's two young children help her to put out the samples

There was a mad push to get samples and each member of our group managed to get one, but no one was lucky enough to get two or three.

I took a bite of mine and it was delicious! And who knew that porridge could include so many different things? There was meat and different veggies. The textures were varied and the taste was much more savory than sweet.

The plate of porridge for the judges

My sample of the same porridge 

We didn't really understand anything that happened when the winners were announced, but we applauded and loudly agreed just how right the results were! ;)

On display at the judges' table 

People waited in line to take photos

all of the porridges ready to taste

Back downstairs we took some group photos and described the ingredients/taste of the porridge each of us had sampled.

The girls: Inside the building during the competition

Group picture #1

Our feet around the fire

Smiles!

Silliness ;)

Free samples!

Helen, Felicia and I left the venue a few minutes before the others (so we could get free take-home porridge kits!) and had a few minutes of idle time until the rest of the group joined us. I noticed these strange totem-pole like objects in the front yard of an adjacent building and so we went to explore. Of course (if you know me) you know that I suggested we have a photoshoot and imitate the statues.

Posing with the totem poles

Being our own totem pole

A striking resemblance, don't you think?

Felicia and Helen joined forces!

Once the others had come outside, we reconvened and began to head back towards the train station. On the way someone noticed that there was a massive advertisement for aqua biking, aqua zumba, and aqua yoga so of course we had to investigate. Inside the building we found a roller derby rink (which was packed for a women's derby event), ping-pong tables, several gyms, and the coolest swimming pool! It was a free-play area with tons of toys surrounded by a giant circular lap lane. I am considering adding a weekend adventure there to my CPH bucket-list.

When I got home that evening my host family was totally confused by the whole idea of a porridge festival (it was only during dinnertime conversation that I learned they thought I was going to a poor festival). I showed pictures and explained the event, but they weren't yet convinced. I have vowed to make porridge for family breakfast at least once to pay tribute to the organizers of the event. :)