Just what is all of this cooking of porridge ?

You will need to stir it to mix it all together and then leave until the oats have softened.

I like to add fruit instead of the sugar.

Dune

On the other hand, I use a pyrex (tempered glass) bowl to which I add salt, ground cinnamon, a pinch or two of nutmeg, sometimes a pinch of ground cloves or allspice, sliced almonds or chopped walnuts or pecans, raisins and, lastly, a fresh fruit. I add peach or apple directly into the spices mix. I add sufficient water then I add the cereal, mix everything together, cover with plastic wrap and nuke for 4.5 minutes at 40%. Sometimes instead of the harder stone fruits or apples, I chunk up banana and or strawberries in the eating bowls. Also in the bowl is a little brown sugar, sometimes a dash of honey, a little vanilla extract and a dab or 2 of butter. When the cereal is cooked, mix it well in the bowl then add a glop of it to each bowl, mix in the sugar, vanilla, butter and fruit if a "bowl fruit" was used. Serve with half-and-half. Yum!

Why bother eating if the food isn't going to have any taste to it?

por·ridge   [pawr-ij, por-] Show IPA

noun

a food made of oatmeal, or some other meal or cereal, boiled to a thick consistency in water or milk.

That's the definition of porridge. So, if it isn't cooked, it isn't porridge.

What you are eating is clearly not porridge.

It's either raw oats "with hot milk, and a bit of sugar" (which I suspect would be ghastly!), or it's some kind of "Instant" horrible English 'porridge-like product'...

I don't like the taste of raw cereal.