What is it about British holiday makers and full breakfast?

[MonaLisaDoesntSmile]

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?

Most 4/5 star hotels (especially chains) all over the World offer a cooked breakfast which, whilst not a traditional English breakfast, will usually include things like bacon or sausage, scrambled eggs or omlette, maybe baked beans, usually a toaster and sliced bread, all alongside other international options, such as pancakes, croissants, rolls, ham/cheese, fruit, cereals, yoghurts etc. The bigger the hotel, the more likely they are to offer a pretty full range. We had "hot" English style options in hotels in the USA, Canada, Russia, Egypt, Israel, Kenya, and all over Europe, but we checked before booking that they did a full breakfast range. Of course, we'd never expect an English sausage or complain about the lack of one, but we would expect at least some similar items, i.e. bacon and scrambled egg.

When we choose a hotel, we specifically look for what they offer at breakfast, look at review sites and look at photos on the hotel website. We never make assumptions! We do all that after one particularly bad experience where we stayed in a 3* hotel which literally only offered stale bread rolls and hard boiled eggs - never again, hence why we check before booking.

if I'm staying at an expensive place I want eggs benedict

I mean I wouldn’t eat a cooked breakfast (fry up) every day at home.. But if I’m on holiday, and I’ve paid for bed and breakfast, I generally want something that will fill us up, then a light lunch, and out for dinner. When we stayed recently in an AI hotel, I went mostly for the fruit and pastries, Ds1 for the pancakes (he has the biggest sweet tooth), and ds2 for the bacon, eggs, etc. It was great to have so much choice!

I've often wondered about this too - when we were kids, and spent all our summers in my dad's country of origin (southern Europe) my brother's longed-for birthday treat was a Full English in the naff British tourist pub downstairs! Which my parents got him with gritted teeth ... My mum never cooks herself breakfast at home, ever, but when she stays at a hotel/pub here in the UK she will talk for days beforehand about the wonderful cooked breakfasts they do. I honestly think it's just part of the British hotel or B&B experience.

I wouldn't have one abroad - I'd eat whatever the hotel was serving but probably along the lines of cheese, egg and toast,fish, fruit salad maybe. But if I were at a UK B&B, bring it on!

I love a cooked veggie breakfast, although I always have to wait for a vegetarian sausage.

Giraffe do a good one at Stansted.

I could murder a hash brown now.

if I'm staying at an expensive place I want eggs benedict

I love eggs Benedict. Wish more places offered it.

Cruises always have eggs benedict for breakfast.

Oh yes, eggs benedict is the business.

Want it now

Agree about eggs Benedict. Our nearest cafe, which is a biker cafe honestly swear to God it's attached to a motorbike dealer/repair place, does the most awesome fryups of course as expected but also does wonderful eggs Benedict with a shit tonne of bacon (ham for purists) and they make the sauce from scratch themselves and it is the most delicious food ever.

I’m a big an of eggs florentine myself

How could we be top of the EU obesity statistics if we didn't keep up our greasy tradition of stuffing our faces with the worst possible breakfast ever invented?

Here’s to that

Like a PP if we ever stay in a hotel or B&B we seek info on the breakfasts first. I like posh or bircher meusli, fruit, breads, cheese and pickled onions and gherkins! DH likes cooked breakfast. DC just want Nutella pancakes and lots of them.

Good times!

“How could we be top of the EU obesity statistics if we didn't keep up our greasy tradition of stuffing our faces with the worst possible breakfast ever invented?”

Oh but @ralfeesmum we’re not. In Europe turkey Malta, Lithuania and Latvia are more obese - turkey with their chic Middle Eastern/ Mediterranean breakfasts of olives and humus FAT FUCKERS

Obviously only some of these countries are in the EU but the point stands

@Passthecherrycoke - but that means posters can no longer sneer at the British and their traditional breakfast

It’s so awful, how can one sneer at exotic hummus and olives 😫 What will be able to bash the British for next?

Olives are the work of the devil.

I have loved the local breakfasts in all of Europe, including Germany, Poland, Greece; and Turkey. However, in China, when we were already eating rice plus an assortment of dishes of the local cuisine and soup twice a day, I just could not face wheat noodles, spring onions, bits of meat, etc for breakfast! I did go for the Western breakfast options, which luckily all the hotels did, that we stayed in! (No doubt chosen deliberately by the tour company)

When I was on my french exchange breakfast was a big bowl of drinking chocolate with croissants to dunk in.

Croissants, which we all know are low fat and low calorie

Mmmm, Grimbles. The DC would love that, as would I.

I loved it too, but it's not really any better for you than a full English. I would argue that on a nutritional basis it's a lot worse!

Yet it's the full english that's derided.

Yes on our school trip to France when we were 16 we were served 1 croissant and 1 bowl of hot chocolate. No way near enough food for growing teens. Give me a full veggie English.

I can’t stand eggs benedict! The textures and flavours make me gag. The addition of smoked salmon makes me heave.

Bingo! We're all obese and 'stuffing our faces'. No MN food thread is complete without this type of comment.

Croissants don't fill me up at all, they are all air, butter and empty calories. Basically it's cake for breakfast. Plus pastries seem to disagree with my digestive system. Of course, they are very nice, but I seem to gain half a stone on entering France.