# How often do Brits cook fry-up breakfasts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [December 29, 2020, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153 "2020-12-29T05:35:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153/102 "2021-01-03T01:30:46Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > I’ve spent about 30 days with three different families in London over the last 25 years or so. One Jewish, one South Asian one “English”. Never had a full English at their houses. Cereal, toast, muffins, fried eggs, yogurt, paratha, whatever. > > Stayed at a small hotel in London for a couple of nights. Full of tourists. Boom! Full English! > > Reckon it’s a tourist thing now. No, it’s not a tourist thing, but it’s an occasional thing at a weekend, not every day. Jewish and South Asian British people are less likely to cook them at all due to lots of pork products being involved, but, with due respect to Jewish and South Asian British households, I don’t think they’d hold themselves up as an example of typical British breakfasts. And TBH even muffins are pretty rare at breakfast except at weekends. Yoghurt is not common either. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153/103 "2021-01-03T01:39:13Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > Yes. It’s the time and effort of cooking it, and the excess calories if eaten everyday that put most people off. None of that applies in a hotel on holiday. And if it’s a breakfast buffet then you don’t have to decide between full English and continental breakfast, just have both! Yes. Plus the washing up. When I used to have a lot of people over to stay at the weekend I’d quite often make a full English, but for just the two or three of us? Nah, too much effort, too much washing up. We’d go to a cafe instead. That’s a caff, not a café. That’s where most Brits have a full English, TBH, at a cafe, not at home. I miss cafes SO much. Two of my favourites have been victims of covid because they’re not the type of place that works well for takeaway, and I keep checking that my other favourites are somehow still going. One of them has major historical value, in cafe terms - the interior is grade II listed - and would be a genuine loss if it goes. But it probably will. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153/104 "2021-01-03T08:29:03Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Yes. Plus the washing up. Definitely. I used to do a fry-up for tea rather than breakfast sometimes, since that’s a meal I put effort into anyway. Cereal is just so much easier compared to anything else for breakfast, even boiling an egg. It’s a real shame about the cafes. I wonder whether the high street will ever recover, now people have got used to online shopping and food delivery. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153/105 "2021-01-03T12:08:11Z")
I’m American but breakfast is my favorite meal (the time of day is irrelevant, I could be doing “OMAD” intermittent fasting or something), so the idea of toast or something like that (or even worse, Americans who eat kids’ cereals) is depressing, as well as energy depleting. Never had a “fry up” but a “full breakfast” sounds nice. My version would prioritize potatoes secondary to eggs and perhaps some sort of bread/pastry w/ bacon or sausage. And if you know how to cook breakfast, none of that really takes a long time - even if you have to peel and steam potatoes before you fry them. The worst part to me is all the dirty dishes. but it’s worth it not to eat captain crunch or a candy bar or something. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153/106 "2021-01-10T02:13:13Z")
Apparently some small high street stores are actually doing OK, because people are shopping locally. That’s only for the ones that sell essential goods, though. Independent clothes shops and the like are totally fucked. Some cafes will re-emerge after the pandemic, because going out for cheap food, sitting in and eating it, is such a feature of civilisation. I doubt most of them will be owned by the people who own them now, though - they’re nearly always family businesses with at most three outlets. My suspicion is that chains will take over the most viable locations, employing people on zero hours contracts, with nothing like the rough-edged community feel those cafes have always had. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153/107 "2021-01-10T19:33:51Z")
I’ll make one as an indulgence perhaps twice a month. Of course as I get older I try to cut down on fat and cholesterol… but there is something very satisfying about a good Greasy Fry. By the way though, potatoes are not part of a Proper British fry-up. The traditional carb component is fried bread. And it’s called black pudding here in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153/108 "2021-01-10T20:22:34Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > The traditional carb component is fried bread. And it’s called black pudding here in the UK. That’s blood pudding that’s called black pudding, not the fried bread. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153/109 "2021-01-10T23:18:07Z")
Black pudding…shutter…fried bread yummmo ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153/110 "2021-01-11T08:31:44Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > By the way though, potatoes are not part of a Proper British fry-up. Not part of YOUR fry-up, maybe, but there are many variations, often regional and family based. I’m a big fan of sauted new potatoes with mine. My mother serves hers with grilled cheese on the side, a legacy of her Lancastrian grandparents. As valid as any other ingredient, I’d say (and heartily recommended). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153/111 "2021-01-11T12:03:16Z")
The carb component? There’s only one? In the full Irish breakfasts I’ve had, there was fried bread… and regular toast… and brown soda bread… and potatoes. As well as multiple protein components and fat components. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153/112 "2021-01-11T14:32:40Z")
Right, I didn’t phrase that very well. The two sentences were not connected; fried bread and black pudding are entirely different things, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153/113 "2021-01-11T16:36:32Z")
I used to think the same thing but once I got past the ick factor it’s pretty good. I finally decided that it’s really no worse than sausage. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153/114 "2021-01-12T01:11:38Z")
Living in Scotland, I’d been eating black pudding for two weeks (and enjoying it) before I found out what it was. I still love the stuff! I didn’t care for white pudding when I first tried it, because I’d gotten what was apparently an inferior brand. I’ve since found one that’s very good. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153/115 "2021-01-12T01:17:40Z")
FTR, I dug my Square Sausages (that’s what the label said) out of the freezer the other day and fried them up. They were made with beef (no pork at all) and tasted the way I remembered: just like Swift’s minute steaks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-brits-cook-fry-up-breakfasts/929153.md?page=5)