The Popular Breakfast Food Andrew Zimmern Thinks Is The Worst

If you find yourself cooking breakfast for chef Andrew Zimmern, you can probably serve him eggs or pancakes with no worries — but just avoid one breakfast food that he vocally detests: oatmeal. In a Wall Street Journal video, Zimmern expressed his hatred for the grain-based meal, saying it's "a horrific and awful thing to do." He goes on to describe oatmeal as "jailhouse porridge," suggesting that it's a breakfast dish often forced unwillingly onto kids. "What a horrible thing to do, to subject children to, [giving] them gruel for breakfast ... turn my oats into cookies with plump raisins."

Oatmeal is part of a very short list of foods Zimmern has declared off-limits for him (at least publicly). Several years ago on Twitter, he also called out oatmeal, but also noted that he doesn't eat raw cookie dough (perhaps wise, as it's considered a food safety risk), and walnuts, having previously claimed they taste like soap. He also declared himself not a fan of the famously stinky fruit durian.

Zimmern outlined his breakfast preferences in that video. "I want eggs and a couple pieces of bacon and a glass of orange juice." Beyond that kind of classic, the chef has also published a long list of oatmeal-free breakfast recipes, which range his take on inspired Mexican chilaquiles to shakshuka to pancakes topped with berries, or a savory version with kimchi.

To be clear, Andrew Zimmern is not against oats altogether — in fact, he calls oats "glorious" in the Wall Street Journal video before offering some uses for the whole grains beyond oat-raisin cookies. Firstly, he advocates for toasting oats — this is often seen as a way to level up their flavor, as it can give them a richer, nutty taste.

He has quite a few preferences for how to use oats — he suggests putting the toasted (or even grilled) version into granola. He has some less obvious tips, too: That you could use them in soups, stews, or even Scottish haggis — "things where the flavor and the texture shines through".

Zimmern's own website offers up at least a couple of recommendations on how to use oats. In one delectable suggestion, steel-cut oats are toasted alongside flour and brown sugar to create a granola with hazelnuts that accompanies a spiced apple cake. But granolas don't have to be a dessert thing — another Zimmern-approved breakfast dish makes a granola with pine nuts and honey that goes on top of cheesy ricotta and sautéed cherry tomatoes.