English breakfasts-what is appealing about them.

[PeatrixBotter]

Not judging! I do like them occasionally myself (especially if eating out, almost got one the other day but I'm vegan so slightly different) just pondering what exactly it is that makes so many people love them so much?
They even have their own subreddit. Is it the mixture of carbs/protein/sloppy things (beans/tomatoes)?
Is it (as a friend of mine says!) That they're the only thing that 'cures' a hangover?
Tradition?
Just curious. I can see the appeal with some other commonly eaten meals but can't put my finger on this one ?

For me it's the rarity of it, would only have one when on holiday in the UK somewhere so maybe once annually. It's also that I never cook a hot breakfast at home so having sausages, beans etc feels a very indulgent treat.

These fried OP. OMG you haven't lived if you haven't had potato bread with sausage, egg and bacon (a runny egg especially). This is why the Ulster Fry is #1 (as declared by a BBC food critic who tried them all).

It is mental, MENTAL, that these are not standard in a full breakfast in Britain.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Irwins_potato_cakes_modified.jpg

Very probably going to have breakfast for dinner now 😁

Full Scottish is better - although black pudding and haggis probably not for vegans.
The joy of a tattie scone and square sausage though!

Full Scottish is better - although black pudding and haggis probably not for vegans.
The joy of a tattie scone and square sausage though!

Yes, delicious @weebarra
I’ve seen red and white pudding on Scottish menus. Never tried them. Are they good?

Like, I know you don't eat animal products, maybe for ethical reasons, maybe for other reasons, but you do understand that to the vast majority of people (including many who wouldn't actually indulge because they consider it unethical), bacon is 1000% more delicious than pretend bacon made of plants?

Animal products taste extremely good to the majority of humans. A full English breakfast has a wide variety of animal products and some carbs soaked in the fat from the meat, the yolk of the egg, melted butter.

Perhaps you have never had an English breakfast, perhaps you have had one but years ago and you don't remember it clearly. But your question doesn't make sense because an English breakfast is not possible on your diet, so you are asking about something that is not what you have been eating.

I've not actually had a red pudding, but a white or mealie pudding is good. Like a black pudding with no blood! I like a fruit pudding.

It's in my top 3 favourite meals, I'd walk miles for a full English. When I was on holiday in Gran Canaria we found a cafe that served a full English with chips. Chips! I didn't think it could be improved, but it definitely suits chips.

I haven't tried potato bread, but my Irish granddad used to fry potato cakes in butter that were divine, so I'll try that with the next breakfast I make at home. Is it the same thing?

Bacon with fat on, black pudding with lumps of fat in it, fried bread, fried eggs etc. It's the fat that makes it taste so good imo.

Covers all food groups

It's just too much food for breakfast for me - cooked "breakfast" for dinner in the evening though - mmm

Yes to black pudding but no to beans thank you - any tomatoes have to be fried not grilled, any mushrooms have to be fried hot so as not to be watery. Bacon with crisp fat but meat not too hard. Eggs poached for preference but not too fussed. Sausage has to be a good one - nothing worse than a disappointing sausage.

It’s rare that I have one, but when I do I enjoy every mouthful. It’s a far higher portion of protein than I would normally have for breakfast, so I will always skip lunch because I’m basically full til about 4pm.

But mainly, the fuss is because they’re lush.

weebarra · Today 15:55
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I've not actually had a red pudding, but a white or mealie pudding is good. Like a black pudding with no blood! I like a fruit pudding”

Thank you 😁. We’re moving to Perth, soon (between places atm) but up and down as often as we can. Loving the delicious food we’ve discovered. My family is Scottish but I’ve found things I’d never heard of in England (particularly at the fantastic independent butcher, fishmonger and green grocer in Comrie. The butcher’s pies are other worldly!)

It's a special treat to go to the old school Italian caff. Greasy sausages, bacon, poached eggs that are microwaved and way too many mushrooms. Followed by a pint of Guinness in the old man pub.
It's absolutely sublime! I'm definitely going next week 🤤

I also can't see the appeal at all. All the descriptions of it on this thread just make it sound worse and worse. Grease, carbs, meat, fat - an awful combination, especially in the morning when it's hard enough to stomach food.
Guess I'll never understand the people who enjoy it

Now a breakfast of Crepes suzette, or brioche french toast, that's something I can get behind

This is all that needs saying 🤤

Irish breakfasts, whether Ulster fry or otherwise, are even better because black and white puddings, potato bread and NO BEANS.

And salt!

I find a full English breakfast off-putting. It's too many flavours on one plate. Love a bacon sandwich though.

And brown sauce, forgot that one😂

I do love stodge when I've had a few the night before! Usually manage to stop myself. But I'd seldom have the components in to make a full english so it'd involve a trip to the shop which is rarely practical when one's still suffering from the night before!

what exactly it is that makes so many people love them so much?

Different people like different things, so knowing what makes other people like a full English probably isn't going to demystify it for you much. But basically, for me, the appeal is the combination of fairly bland things (eggs, toast, something potato-based like hash browns or a potato scone or of bubble and squeak) with salty, highly flavoured things (bacon, sausage, black pudding). Also it's all a good combination of textures. And high protein, so it's filling. Fat, salt and sugar (here in the form of starchy carbs) are the three things that pretty much all human beings find most addictive to eat.

There's also an element of nostalgia/comfort food in it for me as it reminds me of being a kid when we used to have one on Saturday mornings and also going to greasy spoon cafes in London with my dad.

I wouldn't want to eat one every day and the general quality of the ingredients makes a massive difference too, but I do love a full English at the right time.

Edited to add: It is absolutely THE best hangover cure.

A cooked breakfast wasn't ever something we had often but we travel a fair bit and I always felt obliged to have the full English in a hotel or at the airport. Even though it made me bloated and sluggish. It just felt like the thing to do.

Then in a really nice hotel last year I just asked for toast and marmalade. DH looked shocked. But it was so liberating. I don't care if I never have to plough through all that grease and carbs again.

See the thought of anything sweet for breakfast makes me feel queasy.