It was I believe invented as a way to attract people to using British hotels and b&b’s when the tourist industry in the uk was first catching on to the masses hoidaying.
I’m veggie and I STILL love getting a good veggie fry up if I stay in a b&b or hotel, most places do now thankfully have veggie breakfasts as standard but back in the day I had to “special request” the veggie items to make up a full breakfast.
At home just now my appetite is quite poor and I’m demotivated on cooking generally due to health issues but a fry up does appeal sometimes. Even better Sainsburys now sell veggie square slice! Which I recently tried for the first time and it is yummy!! Highly recommended. So my fry ups are quorn rashers, veggie slice, tattie scones, eggs, mushrooms, maybe tomatoes, toast and the obligatory mug of builders tea.
With my appetite as it is at the moment it really feels like a “blow out” meal and I eat slowly.
I’ve not only holidayed but also lived overseas, and I have friends/family who are not British and I have to agree with pp that people from other nationalities can be just as fussy about certain foods/meals, I have a Dutch friend who bemoans the lack of decent pickles in Uk, an Italian one who rolls her eyes constantly at the British idea of Italian food which bears no relation to her idea of it.
Personally my favourite is a German breakfast as I LOVE cheese and different breads and crispbreads etc but I am also partial to any involving far too many butter sweet pastries.
I had a lovely experience in a Spanish hotel which wasn’t in a part where there were loads of British tourists and generally catered to local tastes once they clocked my love of yolky fried eggs and their delicious bread which was thickly sliced and just heavenly toasted and buttered they started prepping my breakfasts before we were even in the restaurant area! But I also loved their, I’m not sure what it was called but it was a lightly spiced rice and egg dish with peppers, tomatoes and other veggies in which was a perfect light lunch BUT I don’t think it’s appropriate or good manners to EXPECT a BRITISH breakfast outside of Britain. But if it’s on offer that’s nice.
I’ve been veggie 30+ years and that includes the time spent living overseas and I’ve not gone hungry yet!
“Well, you can buy eggs and bacon and fry them yourself as well, so what's different here?l the lack of effort,skill and service which is what a customer is expecting is included in the price of a b&b, if there’s no cooking going on at all I’d consider that a poor, lazy service from a b&b and yes, stingy too.
There’s a real knack to cooking British cooked breakfasts as they generally need to be to order as the ingredients don’t keep well and guests may eg request different styles of eggs, and there’s skill in knowing what to cook when and how to serve it all hot. Plus the effort to the washing up as several ops have said.
To be honest that’s not peculiar to the Uk either, in many countries a good quality, personalised cooked breakfast of some description is considered a mark of quality of the establishment.
In Uk yea it is the fry up but as mentioned on thread there are loads of others in other countries, look at USA (which I’ve not yet been able to visit but based on tv/film plus I’ve family there) - eggs “over easy”, pancakes (also with bacon), waffles...