Record number of competitors heading to Highlands for World Porridge Making Championship 2026
The World Porridge Making Championship will welcome the largest number of competitors to Carrbridge this autumn.
A bakery owner from San Francisco, a retired British Army officer, a newly qualified Scottish lawyer, a US Marine veteran, an Edinburgh-based artist, a London bakery worker, a Fife teacher and a 2026 MasterChef UK finalist are among the competitors heading to the Highland village of Carrbridge for this year’s World Porridge Making Championships.
The competition, which takes place on Saturday 3 October, attracted its largest ever number of hopefuls this year - more than double the previous record applying for a place.
Organisers believe the surge in interest has been fuelled by the success of the highly acclaimed documentary film, The Golden Spurtle, which followed competitors at the 2023 championships.
In the documentary, viewers witnessed intense rivalries, steaming bowls of porridge, and the lives of charmingly eccentric locals, alongside a living legacy and the search for succession of the ‘chieftain of the Golden Spurtle’. In it Charlie Miller, self-titled Chieftain of the Golden Spurtle, showcases an acerbic wit, charisma and no-nonsense approach to all things porridge. A maker of spurtles - traditional wooden porridge stirring utensils - Mr Miller is described as an artist at heart.
Mr Miller, documentary director Constantine Cosi and former champion Chris Ormiston joined us on an episode of our podcast Scran to discuss the documentary and the annual competition, which has been taking place in the small Highland village of Carrbridge since 1994.
On the episode Mr Miller explained how the championship came about, saying: “It started in 1994 when one of the local hoteliers was out walking in the woods trying to think of a way in which to present Carrbridge to the world in order to make it a bit more busy during the winter months. He came up with a notion that a food festival would be the way forward and what better than a porridge festival, being the national dish. He consulted with a local restaurateur and between them they came up with this idea of a world porridge championship.”
Fast forward to this year and 30 representing 14 countries will take part in this year’s competition, including entrants from Australia, the Czech Republic, South Africa, the USA, Norway, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands, as well as from across the UK and Ireland.
Among them will be defending World Porridge Making Champion Sven Seljom from Norway, together with national porridge champions from competitions in the Netherlands, Norway and Australia.
The event, now in its 33rd year, has become a firm fixture in Scotland’s culinary calendar, bringing together professional and amateur chefs, food producers, bloggers, small business owners and enthusiastic home cooks, all united by a passion for porridge.
At the heart of the competition is the battle for the coveted Golden Spurtle trophy and the title of World Porridge Making Champion. For this, competitors must prepare traditional porridge using only three ingredients, oatmeal, water and salt.
There is also a Speciality Porridge competition, where competitors can combine oatmeal with any ingredients they choose, resulting in an imaginative mix of sweet and savoury dishes.
Last year’s Speciality Award winner, Caroline Velik from Australia, created porridge jaffles – yogurt flatbreads filled with porridge, rum soaked bananas and toffee rum liqueur and tossed in Davidson plum sugar.
Former Scottish MasterChef finalist Sarah Rankin will return to host the championships for a fourth consecutive year.
This year’s judging panel includes Neil Mugg, former chef at Gleneagles who now teaches hospitality at UHI Perth; New Zealand baker KJ Gilmour, head chef and owner of KJ’s Bothy Bakery in Grantown-on-Spey; and Clare Coghill, owner of Café Cùil on the Isle of Skye.
Porridge chieftain Alan Rankin said: “The response to this year’s competition has been amazing. We had the highest ever number of entries from an incredible range of backgrounds and from countries around the world.
“That has given us a fantastic line-up for October and I think it shows just how much affection there is for the Golden Spurtle. The documentary has introduced the competition, Carrbridge and the wonderful world of porridge to a whole new audience, and we’re really looking forward to welcoming this year’s competitors to the village.”
The World Porridge Making Championships are organised by volunteer members of the Carrbridge community and sponsored by Hamlyns of Scotland.
Hamlyns' managing director Alan Meikle said: “It’s wonderful to see people travelling to Carrbridge from all over the world to compete, and particularly exciting to see such unprecedented interest this year. We’re delighted to continue supporting an event which celebrates the tradition of porridge while also showing just how creative and versatile oats can be.”
2025 Champion, Norway’s Sven Seljom, said: I’m really looking forward to coming back to Scotland and to lovely Carrbridge in October to defend my title and once again join the fantastic community that is The Golden Spurtle. The village and the organisers are doing such a tremendous job and it was the greatest experience of my life winning the title last year."
Robert Reid, the new Australian champion, who won Australia's first national competition, the Pearly Spurtle, on Saturday 8 August, will be competing in Scotland as part of his prize.
He said: “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind. To go from my wife telling me she submitted my application to actually winning the Pearly Spurtle four weeks later has been pretty surreal.
“My dad is Scottish, so porridge has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. The sense of community at the Pearly Spurtle was incredible, I'm excited to now have the chance to do them proud in Carrbridge.”
Full details of the competition are available at goldenspurtle.com.
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