Expectations of an 'English breakfast' abroad

[mysparkleismissing]

Hubbie had an English breakfast in France yesterday and was grumpy that the sausages and bacon weren't what you'd get at home

Would you expect what you'd get at home?

Or allow poetic licence given the frankfurter type sausages are what they see as a sausage

God no, a haggis is far nicer. My father was French and loved andouillette, but he didn’t force me to eat it after I’d tried it once. Same for tripes à la mode de Caen. (Both of which I spat out in disgust.)
ETA: I’m another who wouldn’t expect to find an English breakfast on offer in France. For a start, French sausages often contain a lot more meat (can be 100%) than your average English sausages. Bacon isn’t really a thing, in my experience. I used to like the ordinary breakfast in a Normandy cafe back in the day, a café Calva and a cigarette, with maybe a hard boiled egg to wash it down!

I prefer streaky but streaky bacon abroad is not the same as UK streaky. At the very least it's not cooked the same. I like it very crispy and it's usually a bit flabby abroad.

My DH does this when he gets carried away at a breakfast buffet. He ALWAYS regrets it and he never learns. In France, eat the French stuff - it'll be far superior to any attempt at full English.

Or maybe not have an English breakfast and actually embrace the fact you're in France and try something french instead

I can't understand why anyone would order an English breakfast in France when you are surrounded by the most delicious, baguettes, croissants, French butter and cheeses

You just have to embrace the carbs with a French breakfast! Pain au chocolat, tartine au beurre et confiture, croissant au beurre.. So, so good!

The outer casing is made from the intestines rather than the stomach, as with haggis. Yep - the smell of what's been through them lingers.

Urgh I hate people who go abroad and complain that the food isn’t ‘British’ enough. He wants a full English he should go to Blackpool.

I would suggest Clacton rather than Blackpool, though he won't be able to share a table with Nige.

HRTFT

Poor "hubbie" Did he pack any baked beans ? as the French, rightly, have no truck with them. However they have some of the best charcuterie in the world, and that includes sausages and bacon (tho it is not like UK Danish import type with the white foam stuff) Boke. Definitely leave the andouillette to the locals though ! Ditto eggs - fantastic omelettes. And not bad fries either - as in FRENCH 😉
I lived in different parts of France for several years and was a meat eater at that time. A steak bavette with fries and a flacon of red for lunch.....I could almost eat it now (pescatarian for 40 years 🤭)

"Politics is like andouilette - it should smell like shit, but not too much"

Edouard Herriot (un mayor Francais)

Or Dutch.

@Jaichangecentfoisdenom café Calva and a tab ! 😜 Standing at the zinc in the café......people still smoked gîtanes, and indoors then....happy days (I was young !)

Totally agree, you should only expect to buy Coke in cans and salty crisps, especially in dodgy countries - Coke and salty crisps were all I had for 1.5 weeks after I stupidly consumed a salad in a 4-star Egyptian hotel. Coke and salty crisps saved my life!

True.... When you slice into one, the smell certainly hits you. I like an andouillette in autumn.

None of your excuses make others snobbish.

Cold apparently

Some brilliant replies here glad to see Im not alone thinking his complaint wasn't warranted
He didnt complain to the restaurant
We were in Dunkirk.

He is very much a creature of habit when it comes to food, will prefer a chain restaurant iver somewhere independent and I can generally look at the menu and guess his choices correctly- takes all sorts. He is a LOT better than he used to be with what he eats - generally cos Im the one doing the cooking at home

Tbf he doesn't like croissants or pain ai chocolat that much hence his choice of a cooked breakfast.

You should've seen his reaction to the breakfast in a riad in Marrakesh! Least we knew that wouldn't pose the same problem!

Oh I think we need to know more about Marrakesh!

Did he realise that Dunkirk is actually in France? When Churchill said "we shall fight on beaches" where does your husband think those beaches were? 😅

Did he realise that Dunkirk is actually in France? When Churchill said "we shall fight on beaches" where does your husband think those beaches were? 😅

Why would you go to France and get an English breakfast?? That is wrong on so many levels!

Is this a serious thread?

Why do people like you and your husband bother with travelling if you travel to seek and experience the comforts of home? Just stay at home then if you want your breakfast to be quintessentially English - because you're OBVIOUSLY not going to get that in FRANCE. So to answer your question, no, I wouldn't expect an English breakfast to be particularly authentic in France. Just like I don't go to Russia to have authentic Mexican food.

I can’t remember who it was but let’s contrast this with the Frenchman who said “To eat well in England all you have to do have breakfast three times a day”.

The cuts, cures and sausage recipes are very different from country to country.

You'd only get an actual English breakfast if your hosts butchered their own pigs and cured their bacon the English way, or had the pork products imported from the UK.