avoine

Although thirty varieties of oat are grown in France, much of it for animal feed, it’s not a major producer—in Europe alone, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Germany, the UK, Ukraine and Spain have greater yields.

You’ll have to go to a health food store if you want steel cut oats; but rolled oats flocons d’avoine are easy to find in the supermarket wedged in among the breakfast cereals. Quaker is a popular brand.