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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:
dontalltalkatonce · 26/11/2019 14:30

Have we had 'I eat porridge with water and I'm full until lunch. No wonder everyone is obese!' yet?

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 26/11/2019 14:34

I like porridge with water... what's wrong with that?

dontalltalkatonce · 26/11/2019 14:35

Nothing, but it doesn't keep some people full until lunch and they are not all obese.

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 26/11/2019 14:47

If I eat breakfast it actually makes me ravenous by mid-morning. It wakes my belly up or something.

Bluerussian · 26/11/2019 15:10

In recent times we've stayed in hotels where we don't have to have breakfast - ie it isn't on the bill - unless we choose to go into the restaurant. We sometimes go out to a cafe which we fancied, it made a nice change and if we did stay in the hotel for breakfast, there was a good choice, catering for all tastes. Cereal (inc porridge), fruit, yoghurt, bread and toast was self service, waitress service for anything cooked.

BerwickLad · 26/11/2019 18:21

Well this thread has made me see the error of my ways and no mistake. From now on I'm going to stop stuffing my obese face every morning and instead be like a sophisticated Croatian with a half bottle of rakia and a fistfight.

Passthecherrycoke · 26/11/2019 18:34

Berwicklad GrinGrinGrin

Bluerussian · 26/11/2019 18:48

It's not an error to want a full English breakfast, it's just silly to make such a thing of it when most areas have cafes where you can buy an all day breakfast if you want and then you don't have to get up early. I very much like egg, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, black pudding, hash browns.....:-). Just wouldn't want it every day, I'd be worn out after eating all that in the morning.

Variety is the spice of life, eggs Benedict is nice, so is smoked salmon and scrambled egg and I love fresh fruit.

I'd rather have an extra hour or two in bed, then venture out to a pavement cafe, sip coffee with a croissant and watch the world go by.

PreseaCombatir · 26/11/2019 18:56

But why would you go and pay at a cafe when you’ve already paid for breakfast at the B&B?

Bluerussian · 26/11/2019 19:13

I tend not to choose places where breakfast is included though like to know I can go to their restaurant and have it if I want. Many people feel constrained if they have to book breakfast in hotel but an optional restaurant is fine. Ideal if there are plans to get up and go out somewhere fairly early of course.

I stayed at this hotel (with husband) for a three night break three years ago September and breakfast was optional but we did have it twice and it was lovely, in fact the restaurant was gorgeous as were the rooms and the views. I remember that fondly, it was boiling hot but we had a great time, wish could do it over again.

www.crescentturner.co.uk/restaurant

DuchessofWoke · 26/11/2019 19:31

half a bottle of rakia and a fistfight

Grin
LimaCharlieHotelPapa · 26/11/2019 19:45

I'm British (English to be specific) and spend my mornings eating bran flakes or, if I'm feeling like a rebel, toast. If I get the chance to go to a hotel I'm definitely going to have a cooked breakfast as it's so rare I have one, especially without having to cook it myself! Grin

Gingaaarghpussy · 26/11/2019 19:51

I feel I've missed out, all my life. I've never had eggs Benedict. I tried a fried egg sandwich, for the first time 2 years ago. I'm in my 40s.

scaryteacher · 26/11/2019 19:58

Having been to Stockholm and Vienna this year, both hotels served continental breakfast and hot food, as did the hotels in Lisbon, Prague, Copenhagen, Bratislava and Oberammergau. Iirc the one in Istanbul did as well. I was travelling with dh who was working. He tells me bacon and eggs are standard in most places. It was the same in the Premier Inn in Dubai, albeit the bacon was turkey.

user1497207191 · 26/11/2019 20:07

Having been to Stockholm and Vienna this year, both hotels served continental breakfast and hot food, as did the hotels in Lisbon, Prague, Copenhagen, Bratislava and Oberammergau. Iirc the one in Istanbul did as well. I was travelling with dh who was working. He tells me bacon and eggs are standard in most places. It was the same in the Premier Inn in Dubai, albeit the bacon was turkey.

Yes, indeed quality/big hotels all over the Western World usually offer some kind of "hot" options, obviously not Full English, but certainly likely to do bacon/sausage, eggs, toast, beans, etc but probably unlikely to do black pudding, mushrooms, fried tomatoes etc. Franfurter/hot dog style sausages are pretty common.

I've found it's the Southern Europe/Med summer holiday countries (usually relatively low star) that just do basic croissant, yoghurt, cheese/ham style continental breakfasts.

Been to Rome, Amsterdam, Berlin, St Petersburg and Paris this year, plus a cruise, and all had some elements of a cooked breakfast, certainly eggs, bacon and sausage in all, but all were 4/5 start chain/business style hotels.

TiddlerontheRoof · 26/11/2019 20:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Bluerussian · 26/11/2019 21:30

Gingaaarghpussy Tue 26-Nov-19 19:51:19
I feel I've missed out, all my life. I've never had eggs Benedict. I tried a fried egg sandwich, for the first time 2 years ago. I'm in my 40s.
.........
You may not have missed much. It all depends on how the hollandaise sauce is made, it can be lovely but I have had it when it tastes like salad cream which is not right!

I haven't had a fried egg sandwich for years. Sounds yummy! Lashings of HP sauce.

Palaver1 · 26/11/2019 22:27

Never have a fry up at home but when Im away in the UK I really look forward to this

WaterOffADucksCrack · 27/11/2019 10:08

I've travelled and worked abroad and never heard "Brits moaning for hours" about breakfast. In hotels in this country it's a treat as people have said.

Your post reads as very "people from MY country (although I won't say which one for some pathetic reason) are superior because we'll all eat absolutely anything." It's all very strange.

lboogy · 27/11/2019 21:00

If I stay at a hotel or b&b I expect to get something I don't have at home and that's a cooked breakfast and fruit already cut up for me
I never eat cereal because I love something warm in my stomach so at home it's a coffee or coffee and toast for breakfast

Shockers · 27/11/2019 21:04

The best hotel breakfast I’ve ever had was in Copenhagen. I still dream of it two years on...

All veggie too.

tillytrotter1 · 27/11/2019 23:02

Other nationalities do it, my daughter managed a very classy B and B, rave reviews on TA and the breakfast was usually mentioned. However there were complaints, the Spaniards wanted surgary cakes, Americans wanted thick pancakes for breakfast as well as kicking off because there wasn't an unending supply of ice.
A well cooked full breakfast doesn't need to be an unhealthy nightmare.

tillytrotter1 · 27/11/2019 23:04

My favourite on 4-in-a Bed, OH watches it in the kitchen and I saw a bit, was a woman marking the lovely place down because there was mould, in the toilet cistern! She had taken the lid off to look.

ktp100 · 28/11/2019 08:46

I think lots of people only have occasional fry ups and would consider a holiday/hotel stay as an opportunity to indulge. I'm with you though, would much rather go for the continental style breakfast. I hate the greasy feeling after a heavy fried breakfast.

PhoneLock · 28/11/2019 10:12

It was the same in the Premier Inn in Dubai, albeit the bacon was turkey.

In my experience, a full "English" is best avoided in strict Islamic countries. The sausages are usually turkey too.

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