What is an English Breakfast?
 

I am headed to London for the first time and I have no idea what a English Breakfast contains. Help.

Is disgusting.

It usually means a full breakfast such as bacon and eggs, fruit, rolls and cereal. The other choice being a continental breakfast rolls, danish and coffee.

I'll try and avoid most gratuitous comments about English cooking. Some is dreadful, some quite excellent. <BR> <BR>Breakfast is usually quite decent. A 'typical' (hotel style) 'English breakfast' is a buffet offering you the opportunity to sup on 5 or 10 thousand calories before you start your day. In some places in the US I've found similar morning buffets called Hunt Club Breakfasts, though I've not run across one in years now. <BR> <BR>Usually a far more extensive buffet breakfast than those found in US hotels. <BR> <BR>Typically: several kinds of eggs, a potato dish or two, often with onions or other condiment, broiled tomatoes, kippered herring, bacon, sausage, ham, perhaps small steaks, several pastries, usually an extensive choice of jams and jellies, butter, toasts. It's been a while and I don't recall waffles or pancakes or any equivalent. This list is somewhat shorter than what you're likely to find. <BR> <BR>English bacon is a bit different in cut than US bacon; you may find it a bit underdone. Fried eggs will often be cooked less than many North Americans might like. <BR> <BR>It took me several trips to England before I moved off the opinion that English eggs and bacon 'sucked' and began to enjoy them. I've worked at the herring but just haven't become fond of it. The broiled tomatoes are find, but I still find them odd for breakfast. <BR> <BR>Ed

We've found that normally it is an egg and bacon with a small tomato also on the plate. Toast is included (altho you might have a choice of rolls or muffins) as well as coffee or tea (or milk if requested). Juice is usually included as well. A continental breakfast is just coffee/tea and a muffin/breakfast rolls and sometimes juice, depending on the place.

The term brings confusion with it. Brits call the big meal - eggs, bacon, toast, cereal, American. Like the rest of the world, breakfast for the English consists of grab what you can and run. However, if what you are looking at is a statement "includes full English breakfast," that would mean eggs, bacon, toast, cereal, tomatoes probably, maybe mushrooms and kidneys. But, as one respondent said, "disgusting" is sadly often the case. Bacon is fatty; toast is fried not toasted - in that bacon fat; the tomatoes are little bitty things grown in hothouses. Kidneys - well, I've tried them and even my cat won't eat kidneys, so yech. But you can ask for the bread to not be fried and eat it cold; usually the eggs are cooked to order and taste fine. Sometimes you can find a little lean on the bacon. Then there's always the cereal if you want bulk. Count on corn flakes. Still, I always ate enough to keep me going until long after the lunch hour and I'm very fussy. But then I'd be in trouble trying to get late lunch. Regardless of what you get for any meal, stop in at a grocery store and get some items - fruit and cookies, for example, to augment your meals. Also, you should have "tea making facilities" so you can get packets of hot chocolate or a better quality tea to enhance the meal. Eating in England is, well, unusual to say the least. After two weeks of countryside food experiences, my husband and I drove into London, saw McDonald's and Pizza Hut and went into paroxysms (sp) of delight! We had pizza for dinner and McMuffins for breakfast, something we'd never do at home. We were starving! Morning tea, on the other hand, usually has good scones, biscuits, or other yummy baked things. And afternoon tea can be a meal if you're in a big town. Have fun!

We rec'd baked beans with our "English Breakfast" at a London hotel whose breakfast was popular with locals. Anyone else experience that? Our toast was in fact toasted and (of course) served on a little toast holder. <BR>

Personally, I enjoy the full English breakfast, and I rationalize all that cholesterol this way....I don't do it all the time, only when in England.....and, all those calories help me go through a heavy day of sightseeing. And I love those baked beans with the runny fried eggs. After a few days of these breakfasts in a row, however, I do opt for cereal and yogurt, I must say! <BR>But then, after five days in a row of croissants in France, I want a change, too. And cold cuts for two weeks in Germany, a change is needed then, too. All in all, I think English food is taking a bad rap here.

Every B&B has a slightly different take on what is an 'English breakfast' or as one place listed it 'Full English'. Unless specified otherwise, the egg is fried. The bacon is the round kind we call back bacon and Americans often call Canadian bacon. Sausage and sometimes blood pudding. Only one in eight places we stayed offered the fried toast. Everywhere the rack of cold toast was provided without question. Oh and the Alhambra Hotel in London delivers the lot swimming in a pool of watery baked beans unless requested not to. The place in Winderemere had a large bowl of 'stewed fruit' from which you could help yourself if you dared. Everywhere thought the cereal juice and toast is an option if the thought of all that grease disgusts you.

I too used to really hate the FULL ENGLISH BREAKFAST, but like so much in life, at least some of it is an aquired taste. <BR> <BR>Yes, you will find underdone eggs and most place give you few options as to how they're "fried", so try scrambled or poaced. You will also find "back" bacon which many Americans abhor (In the UK American style bacon is often called "streaky" bacon"). <BR> <BR>Most likely you will also have "bangers", a rather disgusting looking type of sausage which actually tastes fine, though a bit bland. The grilled tomatoes were a surprise as were the "baked" beans, which are like our pork'n'beans. <BR> <BR>For cereal have often been given the choice of corn flakes or Wheatabix (a type of shredded wheat which looks suspiciously like something you clean out from under your lawn mower in autumn) or sugar pops. Toast or scones (if you're lucky, with clotted cream, which is fortunately MUCH better than it sounds), marmalade, fresh butter. Another treat is very fresh milk or cream for the coffee (very strong) or tea. Some places will serve a little side of mushrooms or brocolli and sometimes fried potoato ("chips"), with or without fresh or fried onions. <BR> <BR>Also canned fruit is common, generally prunes (unpitted) or grapefruit sections. Again, prunes are a pretty good option when your traveling, especially if jet lag has affected your system adversely. <BR> <BR>I do not stay in expensive hotels and this has been general fare in mid-range hotels, B&B's as well as in the homes I've stayed in, although you should allow for considerably variations particularly with the "side" dishes. <BR> <BR>For your trivia info I've been told that up until around WWII a man's breakfast might very well include a pint of coal-black Porter (an alcholic "ale" type drink, though it isn't really ale at all) and that the ladies might enjoy a half pint of lager as an eye opener). I don't know how wide spread that custom was but it was definitely prevalent up around Norfolk, in extreme north eastern England and at least in some sections of London. <BR> <BR>At any length, breakfast is usually "free", well, at least included, and it is a chance to carb up on a high calorie meal that should last you easily until mid afternoon. Make the most of it. After all, I should think that one of the reasons you've chosen to travel is to experience the customs and ways and, of course, the foods of other cultures.

Well, I'm English and I think 'English breakfast' is the vilest thing ever... As for 'toast' - the variety that's fried in the same fat as the bacon, etc is generally known as fried bread; toast is the stuff that's grilled and comes in a rack

I found England to have a penchant for fried foods. I eat (mostly) low fat non-meat grub and found myself hungry in England. I ate alot of beans, and toast and jam for breakfast. For lunch I stopped in at Marks & Spencers for a sandwich and/or salad. For dinner curries or more sandwiches. This was a budget trip folks... <BR> <BR>A TIP: Take some granola bars with you for a bit of fibre when you need it. They're also good for those hunger pangs on sightseeing rounds.

So...is everything I hear about British food getting so much better a bunch of whooey?

Healthy, low fat food in England is easy to find - just stay away from tourist-oriented places with their fried breakfasts, cream scones, fish and chips, etc This is basically just put on for tourists - I've lived in England for 30 years and I don't think I've ever met anyone who eats those things (apart from chips of course!)

But, where, Jane, oh where does the tourist find this food? I would have loved to know on my trip to England.

Rose, <BR>Cranks (lots of branches) and Food for Thought (Covent Garden) are veggie restaurants that sell a variety of healthy food. Otherwise, if you pick your dishes wisely, there's always Indian and Italian restaurants - I'm actually trying to think of what *is* English food...

I absolutely LOVE this thread -- it's exactly why I keep coming back to this forum. You all have brought back fond memories of my first few days in England -- standing in the breakfast line in a cafeteria in Cambridge and rubbing sleepy eyes in disbelief at the baked beans and mysterious half of a warm tomato adorning my fried eggs, bacon, and cold toast. The other option for breakfast was a bowl of a cereal I'd never heard of called Wheatabix or something like that, which tasted like floor sweepings to me. Having tried both, the eggs & bacon won out. To be honest, I even grew to like the baked beans by the end of my time in England.

I am confused!! It appears that many of your responders have not visited England for many years. My wife and I found the English Breakfast to be very good - Eggs, toast (toasted not fried) bacon (not our fatty kind which the English call streaky bacon, very lean - actually a nice piece of ham) tomato, mushroom, always choice of juice and cereal. By the way we have had more underdone eggs in the US than any foreign country. As for the other English food, <BR>We like pub grub which is done to perfection and inexpensive. The English are famous for their pub food. While in London don't miss the Anchor Pub - one of the oldest if not the oldest with great atmosphere and food. <BR>Cheers!!

Baked beans? Tomatoes? For breakfast? Sounds like American breakfasts rule.

The only pub we happened upon that only had the old style choice of sausage ,beans &chips or chicken pie was the pub directly across from the British museum. The rest all had a variety of good food. I remember spinach and feta cannelloni at one place. Yes Terry, I have been back for ten days now, long enough to have done the laundry, mowed the lawn and be looking at airfare specials

A delicious memory, and quite often a disgrace. <BR> <BR>Not that long ago, you would ask for scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato, kidneys, kippers or whatever, and it would be cooked fresh and brought to your table. In anything other than privately owned establishments, that is now gone. English dinners have improved out of all recognition in the last twenty years, while breakfasts have shot the other way. Some of the egg dishes left lying around in hotel restaurants really defy description. Maybe it's some elaborate form of pest control - no self respecting rat would eat the stuff. <BR> <BR>In terms of what you pay, it just means you get a "hot meal" rather than a selection from a cold buffet. <BR> <BR>For a trip down English Breakfast memory lane, try Anglesea Town House in Dublin. <BR> <BR>What's this about kidneys and fried bread (the technical term for bread cooked in fat)? Lamb's kidneys sauteed in butter till you get that syrupy, slightly lumpy goo, poured onto fried bread. Die happy. Fry some bacon in a dry pan, letting the fat render. Take a piece of bread and soak up the fat in the dough. Offer the bread to an English person standing close by, and watch the silent battle between conscience and desire. <BR> <BR>While we're on the subject of breakfasts, is it me, or has the great American breakfast suffered a shocking fall from grace in the last ten years? Campaign for real breakfasts.

I agree with Terry; I too am puzzled by these responses. We have been in England at least 4 times in the past 6 years, and I am not at all "disgusted" or even slightly put off by the typical English Breakfast provided by our hotels. Yes, there is a substantial amount of food available, but you certainly do not need to take it all. There is normally a good selection of breads, cereal, fresh fruit and yogut in addition to the eggs, bacon, kippers, blood sausage, bangers, fried bread, mushrooms and tomatos. The bacon is more in the nature of ham -- not nearly as fatty as the American variety. Normally I pass on the blood sausage, fried bread, beans and tomatos; but I have no complaint with regard to the rest. What and what types of restaurants, may I ask, do the people "disgusted" by English breakfasts normally eat in the morning?

Yes Rand, I quite agree, it is difficult to find the old Scotched Eggs or Banger & Mash anymore in the pubs. I was referring to the variety of great food you mentioned, we esp enjoyed the lamb curries and broccoli chseese bake along with many others. <BR>I was also distressed to note the passing of the pub towel, luck was with me and I was able to pick op a couple from gracious bar tenders. This was in May of 1998 guess they are all gone by now.

A short time ago, I stayed at a hotel in Edinburgh as my partner was on business and I fancied a free excusion to visit my mates up there. I had breakfast at the hotel, which was listed as a Full Scottish and included much the same things but had haggis as well. <BR>It was very good and so thought most of the Americans, Spanish, Japanese etc. who were digging in. You could have fruit, yoghurt, juices and cereals as well as a full breakfast and toast too. Basically, I just wanted to say that this was a rare chance for me to live as a tourist in my own country and I have no awful stories to recount. Perhaps some of the awful breakfasts have been had at less reputable places than my 4* hotel.

I agree with Terry and cannot imagine what you people are talking about. English breakfast I have had from B7Bs to 4-star hotels has been wonderful with a variety of eggs, hot toast, cheese, juice, delicious English bacon (like canadian bacon), cereal, pastries, milk, coffee, tea, jams, etc. Are some of these posters just TROLLS?

SIMONE: <BR> <BR>So, if we disagree with your own personal opinions, we're trolls? <BR> <BR>I'm glad you had good food experiences in England, but that does not bar the people who have had bad experiences from posting here as well.

I think this whole thing depends on where you are talking about. I used to stay at very nice hotels in London and found the English breakfasts to be wonderful. Now that I rent a flat and don't do cooking there, when I'm missing the good English breakfast, I sometimes venture out to some very nice restaurants for one. Have had great ones at Simpson's in the Strand and at Fortnum & Masons. But if you are talking about staying at a super inexpensive hotel where they throw in an "English breakfast" to help try to get you there, then I would suspect it to be pretty vile. It just stands to reason. I don't expect a Ritz Carlton breakfast at a Motel 6 in the US either.

I don't know about inexpensive hotels, or expensive hotels either for that matter, but in my experience in British B&Bs, which stretches back a fair way, breakfasts are getting better, not worse. And I stay in pretty normal B&Bs, not the upscale version. I almost never see fried bread anymore (thank goodness), and instead of the hard eggs fried in indefinable grease of days of yore, I usually get nicely cooked eggs: poached, scrambled, or fried. At a number of places I've had good homemade preserves -- I've even picked up some recipes. <BR> <BR>If you don't like sausages or any other part of the spread, nobody ties you down and makes you eat them. I've always been asked what I want, and it's easy enough to say "just one fried egg, one slice of bacon, and toast" or whatever. I can't eat a cooked breakfast every day, so a lot of the time I just opt for cereal (usually a choice, that includes at least corn flakes and something with bran, for the non-Weetabix fan), juice, and fruit or yogurt. No problem.

The English breakfast we were served when in London consisted of: eggs, baked beans, toast, and bacon (which was really ham to us Americans). I had never eaten baked beans for breakfast before that.

We were invariably served eggs, bacon (Canadian type in the U.S.) grilled cherry tomato, grilled mushrooms, toast and gooseberry preserves, which I'd never heard of before. I have never been a breakfast eater at all, just drink coffee, so gave dear hubby my plate to eat. If a finnicky eater like DH ate two plates of it every morning, it must have been pretty good.

Personally, I think that most department store restaurants or supermarkets restaurants offer fairly good and cheap English breakfasts, cafeteria style, where you can usually pick 6 or 10 items of your choice for under £3. I would pick bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms (I dont think anyone has mentioned mushrooms but they are quite common) and toast. I dont like baked beans or sausages very much, basically you should be able to choose what you want. I have never found an English breakfast to be overly greasy. In fact the most greasy thing I have ever eaten is probably a burgar from McDonalds. And I'm surprised no-ones mentioned the ultimate British breakfast treat..... a bacon sarnie!!! yum.

I lived in England for 1 1/2 years back in the 70s and grew to love the English breakfasts. At first I thought it VERY ODD to serve eggs with baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms , and sometimes chips! However, I grew to love it and now that I live back in America, serve breakfasts to my own family the same way and we are all slim. Not every day, of course, but on a Saturday morning when it is great to have a nice big breakfast. I like the English bacon because it is so thick and lean. I also love the sausage because it is bigger and not as spicey as American sausage. The bed and Breakfasts that we stay in when we return to England don't make it greasy! I think it depends on where you stay. A big breakfast is good to start the day on. We walk off all the calories anyway while traveling. I also love the HP brown sauce that the English serve with their eggs and bacon. It's called steak sauce in America! When I went north to Lancashire, it was common to have black pudding with breakfast. I HATED the idea of pig's blood mixed with barley but I was surprised to find that it tasted good! Maybe I'm wierd, but I also like the kippers with eggs too. This posting is making me hungry!

Has anyone ever had pancakes in England? We were there 10 years ago and never could locate them, even at the big glossy international hotel on the ring road where we stayed before flying out. Does this relate to what my English roomie once told me: it truly turned her stomach to see syrup or jam on the same plate as a cooked breakfast meat, she said no one in England would think of eating them together. We loved the big English breakfasts, which weren't greasy in our experience, but our children (9 and 6 at the time) really missed pancakes.

Pancakes, in Britain, are what Americans would call crepes -- they're almost the same as French crepes, with lemon and sugar being the fave flavor. Most people eat them just once a year, on 'Pancake Day' (Shrove Tuesday . . . not like Anglicans really get into the guilt thing during Lent.) <BR> <BR>Funny thing is that my British husband *was* revolted by sweet flavors on the breakfast plate, but I've since converted him to real US-style hotcakes, with a pat of butter inbetween each one, stacked high, with real maple syrup (which costs about 3 pounds for a tiny container!) on top. <BR> <BR>This is the same lovely husband who can't stand me using ketchup with my eggs & bacon, but who's perfectly happy with a fried tomato for brekkie (btw Bill Bryson described these as 'blood clots' . . . and I agree)!

Just to second Jeff, we had baked beans w/ our English b'fast. We also had the broiled tomatoes, which I found curious but b/c I love tomatoes, happily munched on them too. But I'd rather have my thousands of calories in the morning (esp. if I know I'll be walking all day) than right b/4 bedtime!

Yes, in answer to Marilyn, English people (who I know anyway) think the American breakfast of pancakes with syrup and some sort of cooked meat on the same plate is disgusting. No one would dream of mixing savoury and sweet in that way for breakfast. And you think WE eat strange foods..... :-) <BR>We dont eat pancakes for breakfast, I had these in the US once (IHOP) and they were nice but they were way too filling and I couldnt even manage half. Pancakes are thought of as more of a dessert with lemon and sugar and are quite thin, as already mentioned. You wont find pancakes very often in restaurants but people will make them at home. <BR>As far as the average persons breakfast, it would most likely be toast and jam or some sort of cereal (which I think are pretty much all the same ones as in the US). Some people like fruit for breakfast, like half a grapefruit. The full English breakfasts are mostly a weekend thing, when people have time to sit down with their family. <BR>

Yes, I found the food in England to be ABSOLUTELY horrible for the most part. I too, am a &lt;&lt;picky&gt;&gt; eater having lost 95lbs. Let alone did I find the &lt;&lt;English Breakfast&gt;&gt; to be &lt;&lt;unappealing&gt;&gt;, it struck me that the English are NOT very big on eating green vegetables. I even had a hard time finding green vegetables in Chinese restaurants in London. <BR>Thank goodness for France right across the Channel!!! :-) <BR>Food, Glorious Food!!! Vive la France!!! <BR> <BR>No offense to my English cousins across the pond. <BR> <BR>Ross. :-)

Yes, the food is terrible, and you can hardly see for the fog. It rains all the time, and they all have bad teeth. And they eat grilled tomatos for breakfast! At least, that's what it says in my Fodor's London guide, 1953! <BR> <BR>Sure, there is still too much bad food in London. But there is no excuse for eating it. All it takes is a little research through any one of numerous guides dedicated to dining, and the cuisine of the world is there to be sampled. Hey Ross.... wonder how many of those 95lbs you put back on in France?

To Nota: The question was 'what is an english breakfast'. It was not an invitation to express every ancient sterotype regarding English eating habits. <BR>

YuuuuuuuuuM! <BR> <BR>1) English Breakfasts vary a little depending on teh tastes of who cooks them but mine usually include: Sausages, streaky bacon, toast (fried bread is just toooo indulgent for me when I am cooking but I do love it occasionally when staying at hotels), eggs, beans, tinned plum tomatoes (I love those much more than grilled fresh ones) and plenty of mushrooms... In Scotland and North of England I have often found black pudding, haggis etc included, as I said variations abound... <BR> <BR>2) Most Brits do not eat the above for breakfast very often, and those that do tend to die very early of high cholesterol heart problems. <BR> <BR>3) American style pancakes are found in some parts of the UK, I find that Scottish dropcakes are very similar and very delicious. But in general they are not a typical UK thing to eat at brekkie. Both my hub and I enjoy them when we visit US though. My hub does have that british thing about not mixing sweet with meat but I love it. Infact he even moans when I put apple in with chicken a la normandie or any other combo... <BR> <BR>4) In B&Bs (unless particular classy ones) you tend to get one plate of breakfast, you can usually ask to exclude some things and have an extra egg instead or whatever but its only in classier B&Bs or hotels where you would get a breakfast buffet with the pastries ,yoghurts, fruits etc as well. <BR> <BR>5) Best place to find a cooked breakfast at any time of the day is to ask someone where the "local greasy spoon" is. This is the way we refer to the small and very cheap cafes offering english breakfast fodder all day at low prices. They are not pretty, just cheap formica tables and no fawning service but you do get a good fry up (forget the decent OJ though). They also do great sausage or bacon sandwiches which are great to fill that gap of an afternoon of touring. <BR> <BR>OK I better stop now, I just know the site's going to burp at such a burbling long post....