Full English Breakfast

Some say it is fattening and is bad for us. Some say it is OK, so long as you eat a half of grapefruit before it! Others like Sir Henry Cooper (on this website) say that nothing else sets you up for the day quite so well. What am I talking about? A good old full English breakfast, of course!

In a recent ICONS Gfk NOP poll of 1000 people nationally, 33% of those asked declared that they missed the full English breakfast most when they were away from home. Interestingly 48% missed a decent cup of tea more. However, the poll results could possibly have been skewed by those who take their holidays on the Costas in Spain, one of the few remaining places where the full English breakfast still reigns supreme!

What does a typical full English breakfast contain? One recipe listed a plethora of ingredients that could have graced the table of many a stately home at the turn of the century. Two each of cumberland sausages, rashers of smoked bacon, eggs, rounds of bread, beans and fried bread plus one tomato and lashings of mushrooms, black pudding, salt and brown HP sauce to taste. In finer establishments you can even expect additional courses such as cereal, porridge, kippers, toast and jam or marmalade, kedgeree, or devilled kidneys. (No accounting for taste...) Bathe the aforementioned list in a confection of cooking oil - and bob's your uncle.

Rumour has it that the term 'the full monty' is used to refer to these breakfasts because Montgomery was rather partial to them. Another strange thing ... Why is there never a full English dinner or tea, but there is always a full English breakfast?