LOL Patrick - many of us actually <i>prefer</i> those &quot;horrible tinned plum tomatoes&quot; to grilled fresh ones!

Go figure! (As my American cousin says)

:D

I was with a group of middle school kids the morning I had my first English breakfast of fried toast, corn flakes and goat milk. The looks on the kids' faces was more satifying than grounding the little devils to their rooms after keeping us awake all night on the flight over.

In a good hotel -- or one a good train -- I will indulge in a full English Breakfast at least once a visit and arteries be twitched.
But tell me, please, UK residents, does anyone ever actually buy and eat the complete English Breakfast in a can I've seen in supermarkets?

De gustibus and all that - if there are people who like tinned plum tomatoes, there may be people who like the idea of a complete breakfast in a tin, but it sounds really disgusting to me. And I've never seen one in a British supermarket, but maybe they keep them in the sections I tend to whiz past with my nose in the air.

English breakfast? You mean aigs, tamater, and some small size hot dogs. No English muffins, tho (go figure).

PatrickLondon:

I saw it last autumn in Sainsbury's on Cromwell Road, at the very end of the soup aisle if I remember correctly. I believe Heintz is responsible for packaging it. I hope it's an utter failure and has been removed from the shelves.

Ah time was when Sainsbury's was the posh supermarket..
The Cromwell Rd location is worrying - I do hope some unsuspecting tourist didn't take it home as a present. I can't imagine fried egg in a tin.

Ah, the memories...my first European breakfasts ever were English breakfasts.

The three distinctive things about them which I remember were: the &quot;toast-cooling&quot; racks, runny baked beans, and broiled tomato slices with a parmesan cheese (I think) topping. Thumbs down on the beans, but a big thumbs up on the tomato slices!

A one way tocket to a coronary unit.

My husband and I honeymooned in London this past March and we enjoyed trying ALL the new things we don't seem to have here in the US.

Some things we loved (afternoon tea @ Brown's...clotted cream)), some things were so-so (English breakfast..tomatoes, mushrooms, etc.), but we enjoyed each and every thing that was new to us :)

After reading all these responses, I must say I am looking forward to my first Full English Breakfast. And for those who travel in the US and think McDonald's or IHOP prepares a real American breakfast-- please, we do not chow down on grease, sugar and salt any more than you push down a Full English every morning! I am a relief innkeeper, that is I manage small bed and breakfast inns when the owner must leave for an emergency or a break, which means guest care, breakfast, housekeeping and reservations. This is a typical B&amp;B American breakfast, which the guests can decline or request nothing more than a bowl of dry boxed cereal (we serve five items for each breakfast, as listed):
(1) A glass of fruit juice, or a fruit and yougurt smoothie, or freshly made fruit sorbet.
(2) A plate of fresh fruit, or a fruit cup, or fruit/yogurt parfait, or fruit muesli.
(3) A bread (scones, muffins, quick breads typically) or a cooked cereal.
(4) A main dish which could be eggs fixed in any way from scrambled to quiche to soufffle (and frequently accompanied by breaded fried tomato slices!), or waffles, or pancakes, or French Toast, or crepes.
(5) A breakfast meat such as ham, or bacon, or sausage, or smoked salmon.
Plus coffee and tea and water.
Of course we don't eat like this every day (if I eat the guest menu I have the juice course and half of a main course), but when you are on a trip and expecting the best experience, a B&amp;B breakfast is a meal to remember. We do our very best to conform to special diets, and as you can see the grease is non-existent, the sugar is all in fructose, and the salt is on the table for your choice. The idea is to give the guest a good experience.

Anyway, as many have said, what is the point of traveling if not to have a new experience? Eat the food. I drank fermented mare's milk in Uzbekistan with a rural family and didn't die from that, plus I made some special friends doing it! It tastes, by the way, like smoked ginger ale mixed with bland room temperature kefir (Uzbekistan consistently had daily temperatures of 110-115 deg. F.).

So I expect to see greasy bacon and watery beans in London, but I don't expect to see everyone eating them every day, and I am looking forward to the bangers, bacon, eggs, scones, mushrooms and tomatoes!

And a little smackeral of blood pudding is nice. I hope fried bread hasn't gone out of style, but I see it less and less.

When my brother-in-law went to Italy, he sat around wondering where he could get a &quot;real American breakfast&quot; as we munched on our marmelade-filled brioche and sipped out coffees.