Oat Cuisine

My wife got a 16-page booklet called “Oat Cuisine” inserted in one of her magazines. Quaker sponsored the booklet, which includes health messages about eating oats as well as oat recipes from “Canada’s award-winning chefs.” You can get most of the health message information at quakerchallenge.ca.

Ottawa-based dietician Helene Charlebois wrote the introduction. “A staple in most homes, oats have emerged as a “super grain” with multiple health benefits,” she writes.

The next page says, “Oats can be described as whole grain nutrition therapy in helping to manage cholesterol, weight and blood sugar.” And then, after a string of health attributes, the article concludes with, “What’s more, the oats found in Quaker products are 100 per cent Canadian grown.”

Quaker is a big supporter of Canadian oat growers. It has to be. Without Canadian growers, it would have to source oats overseas. Quaker sends representatives to Prairie oat growers meetings. It has its preferred varieties, and it encourages communication at all levels, including with breeders and farmers. I think the close relationship between Prairie oat growers and one of their single biggest customers — maybe their biggest — is a shining example for all other crops.