American Wins Golden Spurtle!

As shocking as it is to you (and probably more shocking to the Scots), American Matthew Cox has taken the 2009 Golden Spurtle, indicative of the finest porridge in the world.

A spurtle is a wooden spatchula-ish utensil used in the making of porridge. Porridge is, uh, oatmeal.

Cox, a member of Team Bob's Red Mill out of Milwaukie, Oregon, was a decided underdog before beating out such pre-competition favorites as Addy Deggert, Barry Gauld, Lee Barclay, and, of course, defending champion Ian Bishop to win the 16th annual edition of the event in  Carrbridge, Inverness-shire, Scotland.

Cox won in the traditional oats category, for which he was awarded a £350 hotel voucher and £250 cash (somewhat less than the take from the Miss Plastic Competition held simultaneously in Budapest). He is pictured (right) with Anna Louise Batchelor, an environmental researcher and marathon runner out of Reading, Birkshire, who won the specialty category with her recipe for Steamed Porridge Spotted Dick with Custard.

This year the event was held in conjunction with World Porridge Day, a fund raising day for Mary's Meals a charity which provides daily meals for 375,000 children around the globe.

Golden Spurtle souveniers (including specially inscribed spurtles) are available at their Golden Spurtle EBay store.

Sources:
Metro
Thaindian News
Telegraph
Los Angeles Times
Bob's Red Mill (photo)
The Golden Spurtle (photo)
Rocket News
The Press and Journal
World Porridge Day
Mary's Meals