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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:
GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 24/11/2019 15:27

I suspect that many of us rarely have a cooked breakfast at home, so it's something of a treat when you're in a hotel or B&B - with someone else to cook it and wash it up.

I enjoy it now and then, esp. when it's local farm bacon, free range eggs, etc. You can keep the black pudding, though!

It's not just Brits, either - maybe you've never seen a full American breakfast. Or an Irish one - black and white pudding, as well as all the rest.
If you don't like it, nobody's going to force you to eat it, but there's no need to be sniffy about it.

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 24/11/2019 15:53

I make waffles and sometimes pancakes or muffins (not everyday only when I have time) - does that count as cooked?

Motoko · 24/11/2019 16:53

I make waffles and sometimes pancakes or muffins (not everyday only when I have time) - does that count as cooked?

Not really, in this context. Most people understand that a "cooked breakfast" means the full English/Irish/Scottish/Welsh.

One thing I've noticed lately though, is a lot of "Full "English" breakfasts, miss out the fried bread. Hash browns seem to have taken it's place, which is a shame, as I love fried bread to dip into my runny yolk.

I had a really odd veggie All Day Breakfast once. As well as the usual bits, including veggie sausages and bacon, it had spinach and avocado! Confused

EleanorShellstrop100 · 24/11/2019 17:02

A cooked breakfast isn’t necessarily unhealthy and greasy like has been implied. I like a cooked breakfast but a healthy one - poached eggs, grilled, tomatoes, and mushrooms, baked beans, etc. During the working week I don’t have much time to make it so it’s nice to have it on a holiday. A holiday is a treat and so people like to have treats on holiday. I personally don’t like European breakfasts - All the processed meats and cheeses just give me heartburn and make me feel really unhealthy, pastries make me feel a bit nauseous early in the morning, and a bowl of fruit and yogurt is fine but hardly a filling breakfast or a real treat. I think the point is that hotels should at least make the effort to cater for their guests and provide what is popular. If they choose not to provide cooked options that’s their decision but of course they’ll get some people less pleased with this decision as some people simply prefer a cooked breakfasts. It’s not right or wrong, it’s just that people have different tastes and if you’re going to provide breakfast then it makes sense to provide what is popular.

EleanorShellstrop100 · 24/11/2019 17:11

Also must say, my comment is in reply to your statement that British people demand a cooked breakfast everywhere they go. Although I love a cooked breakfast and consider it a great way to start to day, and I’d definitely want one if it was there on holiday, I would never ‘demand’ one when abroad and I have literally in all my life as a tourist (and I travel a great deal) never heard a single British person ‘demand’ a cooked breakfast or get in anyway irritated when the option isn’t there. I can’t help but think that you’re being quite melodramatic and generalizing about an entire nation when really you just heard one person say something once.

Skap · 24/11/2019 17:17

I'm not a fan of the full English. What I do like is a choice of fresh lovely breads and honey or jam.
The last 3 hotels I've stayed in were small boutique jobs, like expensive B&Bs. You could have cereals, fruits, toast and any co concoction of cooked breakfast but no bread. I asked for bread and was offered more toast. Confused.

MerryDeath · 24/11/2019 17:20

@Aridane ☝🏽actually I said i couldn't even eat one

MerryDeath · 24/11/2019 17:21

(i am half french though 🤭! )

Passthecherrycoke · 24/11/2019 17:23

You French, with your chic bread and butter 🤣

NewPapaGuinea · 24/11/2019 17:24

It’s an expectation and a treat when staying away. Expect outrage if you don’t meet expectations.

PhoneLock · 24/11/2019 17:25

The last 3 hotels I've stayed in were small boutique jobs

Through bitter experience I've learnt to avoid "boutique" hotels. Boutique seems to mean over priced, over decorated, tiny room.

IcedPurple · 24/11/2019 17:26

You French, with your chic bread and butter

So terribly sophistiqué.

Passthecherrycoke · 24/11/2019 17:26

Boutique is so 1999. It means someone bought a large house and had a few spare rooms and thought the obvious thing to do was open a bnb

Passthecherrycoke · 24/11/2019 17:27

I just wish I was sophistique enough to buy bread and butter Sad

BerwickLad · 24/11/2019 19:41

@Motoko yy I do not approve of this move away from fried bread towards hash browns. Also some places do chips with the breakfast! And not even nice chips in dripping either but fucking own brand french fries. Wtf?!

DisgruntledGuineaPig · 24/11/2019 20:11

See op, lots of the other cold options suggested are basically sugary things like croissants, fruit, bread and jam, cereal etc. These aren't filling for long (so you will need a proper meal at lunchtime or possibly mid morning snacks), plus many people dont want something sweet in the morning, but a savory meal.

If a B&B is charging rates that presume offering a breakfast as well, there does need to be a non-sweet, protein based option. If not a full English, then something that isnt just sugary carbs.

Grimbles · 24/11/2019 20:18

My local Côtes have a french breakfast on the menu. Its a fry up with boudin noir, which is tres exotique.

Ok, its black pudding, but it sounds soooooo much more sophisticated en francais.

damnthatanxiety · 24/11/2019 21:15

Passthecherrycoke nope, I didn't say they were superior. I was responding to a pp who stated that a Full English was superior to all other cultures breakfasts. The point I was making was that there are lots of fabulous breakfasts out there. One is superior to another. SO reel your neck in.

goose1964 · 24/11/2019 21:28

The best breakfast I've ever had was in Tallinn, it had bacon,eggs etc plus the most amazing "continental breakfast" including smoked salmon, and on Sunday smoked sturgeon, god knows how many hams,cheeses and pastries. I do like a fry up but have to be very careful that they don't make me I'll,so no baked beans or streaky bacon.

TiddlerontheRoof · 24/11/2019 21:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Havaina · 25/11/2019 09:51

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

OP is not slagging off a full English breakfast!

It’s amazing how sensitive people are about this, and yet many people are saying calling someone ‘an angry little Indian man’ on another thread is perfectly acceptable!

TiddlerontheRoof · 25/11/2019 10:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Bluesheep8 · 25/11/2019 10:22

I would never have a cooked breakfast at home, but I do think it's part of the whole experience if you're on holiday.

I don't understand this. The whole experience of what? Being in another country? When I'm abroad I like to eat what the people of that country tend to eat for breakfast. I don't eat an English cooked breakfast regularly at home so why would I suddenly want one when I'm abroad?

Bluesheep8 · 25/11/2019 10:24

I assumed that poster meant on holiday abroad.

cushioncovers · 25/11/2019 10:24

I've never understood the obsession with a cooked breakfast. There are so many other lovely things a person can eat for breakfast. I also don't like most cereals so my breakfast tends to just be a smaller version of a main meal.
Today breakfast is a banana and some malt loaf. Yesterday it was marmite on toast with beans on the top. The other day it was left over veg curry.