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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What is it about British holiday makers and full breakfast?

425 replies

MonaLisaDoesntSmile · 23/11/2019 17:58

The other day I was wathing randomly Four in a Bed. The hosting B&B had an amazing (for me) choice of breakfast foods- loads of nice cereal, yoghurts, fresh fruit, cold meats, cheeses, freshly baked bread, most locally picked/made, seasonal whenever possible. Every couple on the show complained that there was no cooked breakfast option and rated the B&B really low on the breakfast front because they didn't get to have their fry-up.
Another time I watched snippets of a programme showing people to travelling around France, again all complaining that they don't get to have their bacon and beans, but were offered French breakfast instead. There was a time when I worked in a hotel abroad over the summer and likewise saw plenty of British tourists who would refuse to have breakfast if they didnt get their fried eggs and would moan there was no bacon or fried beans. Now mind you, I love eggs for breakfast, but I also ate plenty of other stuff that are available.

Asking here as I am a foreigner and back home we are not really religious about our breakfasts- sometimes we have cooked breakfast, sometimes a sandwich, sometimes cereal, and I have never in my life met a fellow countryman who would complain as much about not having specific foods on offer, especially when abroad. And out of all the British people I know, very, very few actually have a fry up for breakfast, not mentoning having it every day. I didn't get that vibe to from tourists from other countries, not the same extent at least.

I know that while abroad or generally on holiday you sometimes want to eat something familiar, but don't really understand why people are so upset to not have the food they don't even eat at home every day offered while away every day?

OP posts:
BarbaraofSeville · 24/11/2019 11:28

If you ate a fry up many days of your life you will surely be shortening it. Full of trans fats, grease and red meat, it will literally take a decade off your life

Not necessarily. People call it a fry up, but its' not a given that anything is fried, the bacon and sausage could be lower fat versions and grilled and it could be served with beans, tomatoes and mushrooms and lead to eating less later in the day, as filling.

Plus red meat only increases the risk of cancer, it doesn't make it inevitable. Plenty of people will eat lots of red meat and not get bowel cancer etc.

IcedPurple · 24/11/2019 11:28

@busybarbara

Since when are eggs and bacon 'full of trans-fats'?

it will literally take a decade off your life

Literally eh?

In any case, people aren't talking about eating a full English many days, just when they're on holiday and saying in a B&B.

longwayoff · 24/11/2019 11:32

@Breathlessness, that's how meals used to be served. Google service a large Francaise v service a la Russe. It's interesting.

user1497207191 · 24/11/2019 11:33

If you ate a fry up many days of your life you will surely be shortening it. Full of trans fats, grease and red meat, it will literally take a decade off your life

We're talking about the odd few days when on holiday. Not every day of your life.

cherryblossomgin · 24/11/2019 11:40

I am happy with a cold breakfast. Fruit and bread are perfect for me but on Holiday, or if we stay in a hotel (I don't like guest houses/B&Bs) a full cooked breakfast is DHs treat, he looks forward to it from the day I book it, he rarely gets to sit down to a breakfast and it's usually a snack eaten between fares or a bacon roll if he is lucky. For him it's an important part of his Holiday and usually the only thing he will insist on. I wouldn't book a hotel without a hot breakfast being offered.

Breathlessness · 24/11/2019 11:40

I know. They wanted a salad served with their main courses. It was the ‘this is how we eat in France’ speech that amused me.

tabulahrasa · 24/11/2019 11:40

“If you ate a fry up many days of your life you will surely be shortening it. Full of trans fats, grease and red meat”

I ended up having a fry up last night for dinner, lol

A fried egg, done in spray oil because that’s what I use, baked beans, everything else was in the oven, hash brown... that I made, so about a medium potato? Maybe a bit more, one and a half fairly large tomatoes and a very large handful of mushrooms, I don’t eat meat so quorn sausages.

Can’t really see swapping the quorn for meat would suddenly make it full of trans fats, grease and red meat tbh.

Still always call it a fry up even though it’s ovened.

missclimpson · 24/11/2019 11:46

We live in France but avoid croissants, bread, jam, sweet yoghurts etc as we eat a low-carb diet for health reasons. We travel with our home-made muesli and yoghurt and avoid hotel breakfasts. I don't think I have ever heard British people demanding a fry-up in all the years we have been travelling and living in France. I have been grateful for the times we have found scrambled egg or similar before a ten-hour drive.
We eat egg and bacon once a week at home and tend to eat in when travelling in Spain where it is normally on offer at motorway stops and hotels (cooked in olive oil but that is fine).
Our French friends seem absolutely committed to their normal breakfast all the time though some have enjoyed an occasional English breakfast when visiting the UK. Our Spanish family stick to their sweet biscuits or doughnuts for breakfast even when in the UK.
I really don't see British people demanding English breakfast all the time when travelling, though I have seen it on the Costas.

longwayoff · 24/11/2019 11:47

@Breathlessness, sorry, didn't mean to patronise. I'd forgotten about rigid rules for eating in various countries. Annie Hawes described the Italian version beautifully in "Extra Virgin".

Breathlessness · 24/11/2019 11:50

You weren’t patronising. I think I saw it on QI Grin.

PhoneLock · 24/11/2019 11:53

Lets say I'm from France

and your fellow oh-so-tolerant, non-complaining citizens

It's definitely not France!

IcedPurple · 24/11/2019 11:56

@PhoneLock

No, nor Italy either!

RolytheRhino · 24/11/2019 12:05

Tell us where you're from and we can find something about your culture to slag off.

Exactly.

Unless you are one of the people travelling the world and complaining you can't buy cheddar, not sure why it would offend you?

It's stereotyping. If someone were to post, 'What is it about Indian people and...?' you'd rightly get a backlash, because implying that all people from a given country are the same is entirely offensive. I am British and to be lumped in with those who loudly and rudely moan at breakfasts abroad is very offensive to me. Kindly keep your stereotyping ways to yourself.

Koloh · 24/11/2019 12:17

If you ate a fry up many days of your life you will surely be shortening it. Full of trans fats, grease and red meat, it will literally take a decade off your life

Trans fats are usually in things like pastries. Look for the ingredient 'partially hydrogenated vegetable oil' (margarine). Bacon fat is a saturated fat and the frying oil either saturated (lard, dripping) or unsaturated (mono like olive oil or poly like sunflower oil).

Polyunsaturated fats are positively good for you. Unlike trans fats, there's not a lot of evidence that saturated fat will take years off your life, only that reducing intake reduces serum cholesterol a bit (not deaths) www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD011737/full

longwayoff · 24/11/2019 12:20

I am British OP, please don't believe that we're all stereotypical racist stirrers as evidenced by some people on here. They don't get out much and have to take small pleasures where they can.

MonaLisaDoesntSmile · 24/11/2019 12:38

Tell us where you're from and we can find something about your culture to slag off.

I'll politely refuse your invitation. But I'm pretty sure you like complaining about foreigners of all sorts, so knock yourself out slagging all potential cultures.

OP posts:
IcedPurple · 24/11/2019 12:40

But I'm pretty sure you like complaining about foreigners of all sorts

The only person here complaining about 'foreigners' (Brits in your case) is.... you.

RolytheRhino · 24/11/2019 12:44

But I'm pretty sure you like complaining about foreigners of all sorts, so knock yourself out slagging all potential cultures.

No, I think l'll leave that to you, OP, seeing as you have form for it.

derxa · 24/11/2019 12:47

This is one of those bloody stupid Brexit threads let's face it.

Neoflex · 24/11/2019 12:56

I'm a Brit living abroad (non touristy place) and the ONLY time I get to have an English breakfast is on holiday in places like Greece, Spain etc. It is my mission to get my breakfast on my holiday and I look forward to it every year. It's a taste of tradition, the warm feeling of a full belly, grease soaking up last nights wine. It's bloody important okay?
Nothing gives me the rage more than my non-Brit vegetarian husband questioning my breakfast choices. He knows not to mess with it by now.
YABU just try having a good fry up now and then. You might end up liking it as much as we do.

Passthecherrycoke · 24/11/2019 13:14

Barbara there was lots of publicity a few years ago about how healthy and good an English breakfast is for you, far superior to sugary choices like breads, pastries and cereals. Particularly, as a PP said, if the bacon and sausage are grilled or baked

MonaLisaDoesntSmile · 24/11/2019 13:16

I wasn't complaining about anything, asked, why are people attached to this particular type of breakfast. Most managed to give and answer. If you see it as an insult to British culture, or even better want to use this as a way to show off your superiority by "shredding another culture to pieces", well than that's your problem. The thread was not political but some people mention Brexit, really???
Anyways, thank you all for your replies. Eye opening in all sorts of ways. ☺️

OP posts:
BerwickLad · 24/11/2019 13:18

Certainly sounds like you've learned a lot.

Havaina · 24/11/2019 13:27

Bacon and sausages are carcinogenic, they’re not good for you.

Passthecherrycoke · 24/11/2019 13:33

They’re fine occasionally haviana, full of protein