For the last eight years I have loathed porridge. Now I’ve always felt like a bit of a freak because out of all the people I know, not one has a bad thing to say about porridge.

I know there’s not a lot to hate about porridge. It’s white, mushy, and can be a bit tasteless without something to sweeten it. It’s probably safe to say that the hatred I used to feel for the stuff was so strong, I would have starved for a few days rather than eat it.

Like I said, all this started eight years ago when I was in Year 10. It was 2001 and I had just moved to Australia to study. I was living with an aunt and a couple of distant cousins who were in Australia for high school as well.

During my stay at my aunt’s house, I shared a room with a cousin who was pretty decent, except for the fact that he liked LOVED hip hop and r ‘n b. Now I’ve got nothing against those two genres, my iTunes library will testify to that, but my cousin absolutely loved listening to Tupac and Boys II Men.

Imagine waking up every morning to the sound of “Changes” and “End of the Road” and proceeding to get ready for school and having breakfast (see, I’m getting to the porridge!) while listening to similar songs to these over and over and over again.

Needless to say I developed a hatred for these songs, and anything associated with it, waking up, getting out of bed, soy milk and having porridge for breakfast.

All this changed a couple of weeks ago when I saw a box of instant oats in the pantry and decided to try them, just the one time.

I can happily say that I have officially gotten over my hatred for porridge and I feel sorry for not eating it for the last eight years.