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From The Times

April 17, 2008

Why the great British breakfast is a killer

You never see anyone with a degree eating a fry-up; they're too intelligent to consume it, says Times restaurant critic

Giles Coren

The news that Heston “Bacon and Egg Ice-Cream” Blumenthal is to have a hand in revamping the Little Chef chain of service station restaurants has thrown Britain's gastronomic reactionaries - and believe me, they are legion - into a ferment.

“Eggs and bacon were made for the breakfast table, not some poncy ice-cream,” roared The Daily Telegraph, no doubt suppressing a florid belch as its morning kippers turned in its stomach.

Hash-browns are dismissed as “ghastly manifestations of American imperialism” (damned uppity colonials), and Sir Winston Churchill himself might as well be playing Elgar in his Union Jack underpants as we read that: “A good English breakfast never lets you down.” No, it kills you. That's what an English breakfast does. The current £7.25 “Olympic” breakfast at Little Chef comprises: “two rashers of crisp backbacon, British outdoor-reared pork sausage, two griddled eggs, whole-cup mushrooms, crispy sauté potatoes, fresh griddled tomato, Heinz baked beans and toasted or fried extra-thick bloomer bread”.

Olympic? What the hell event do they have in mind, the 3,000m casualty dash? The Triple Barf (also called the hop, skip and vomit)? The Synchronised Massive Coronary? Ye Gods, if that's what our young athletes are going to be packing down daily in advance of 2012 then we'll win even fewer gold medals than the, er, none, which I believe is currently predicted for this whey-faced generation of feckless British fatties.

The fried English breakfast was conceived during the Industrial Revolution (probably) as a form of fast fuel for a working class that actually worked. They ate 3,000 calories in the morning, then they burnt 3,000 calories by lunchtime. Or died when the mine collapsed. But you don't burn 3,000 calories driving a forklift truck, or answering the phone at Argos, or fiddling your disability benefit. The work dies, but the breakfast lives on. Result: obesity crisis. (Knowing this, and fearing the backlash, Little Chef recently moved to slim down “Fat Charlie”, the obese chef who features in its logo, but nothing came of it - presumably because the porky little scrote just wouldn't stop eating.)

I'm not exaggerating about the effect of fried breakfasts on working-class health. I made a film for Channel 4 in 2005 called Tax the Fat (which I truly believe we should) in which I visited a truck-stop café just outside Pontefract. With a public health nurse at my side, I tested two dozen random truckers and found that none was less than 3st (19kg) overweight. Some had body-mass indices of around 50, which is double the level at which you are defined as “overweight” and only five points short of the score that has you reclassified as a small town. And all of them - all, mind - were eating fry-ups.

I managed to persuade one of these truckers, an 18st sweetie called Paddy, to replace his daily fried breakfast with a large bowl of porridge, but to make no other changes to his diet. We weighed him two weeks later. He had lost a stone.

You see, it's complex (or “slow-release”) carbohydrates you want in the morning. They keep you going till lunchtime, don't set off crazy blood-sugar “spikes”, and lay down no fat. Porridge, water, a little salt. Breakfast doesn't have to be a banquet. Your palate is so clean and mellow at that time in the morning that, with a cup of tea, swollen oats taste really quite interesting. There's the whole rest of the day, as your tongue clogs up with processed snacky gack, to start upping your intake of more sugary, fattier, punchier foods.

I'll tell you what's holding us back from finally getting rid of the fried English breakfast for ever: lack of education. You never see a person with a degree eating a fry-up, do you? Certainly not someone with a 2:1 or better in a humanities subject from a university founded before the invention of the iPod. That's because they are smart enough to know better.

And if you already knew that a fry-up was fatty and don't care, then you ought to know about some even scarier health risks you're running at your breakfast table.

According to the immune biologist Dirk Budka, of the Hale Clinic in West London: “Bacon, ham, sausage, all these foods are full of nitrates and other things designed to prolong shelf-life, and the longer the shelf-life the greater the bacterial activity. It's just as bad with smoked fish, kippers, all of that. All the patients who come to me with bowel trouble turn out to have high levels of these sorts of foods in their diets. And long-life food is terrible for people with allergies, too.And then of course there is all this fat. At this time in the morning, when your body is barely awake, suddenly your gall-bladder has to release emergency quantities of bile to digest the fat and it's going to be jumping in triangles. It's going to be screaming ‘what are you doing to me?'. You're going to get heartburn, you're going to get belching...”

But apart from that, it's all good?

“Not at all, it's terrible. There's no proper carbohydrate. There's tinned baked beans, tinned tomatoes, more long-life food, more bacterial activity. And your English sausages are full of I don't know what. It's just what a butcher sweeps from the floor at night. A European will not eat these. In Europe a sausage is 90 per cent meat. I grew up eating good wurst like this. And rye bread. That's what you need to eat. To make a technical term: the English breakfast is full of rubbish.”

Oh, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, “wurst, rye bread... this Budka's a German, what does he know about a good breakfast?” And, indeed, there is more than a smidgen of nationalism, even xenophobia, in our attachment to the traditional English breakfast. The French have their croissant and coffee, the Greeks their sheep cheese and olives, but our morning plateful is honest and shiny and pink. Just like we are.

In fact, from his name, this geezer who's come in to ruin the Little Chef sounds like he might be a foreigner, doesn't he? “Heston” is OK. Sounds like he knows a thing or two about service stations. But “Blumenthal”? We didn't win the war to have some kraut come over here and feed us garlic sausage and pumpernickel for breakfast, no doubt with a side order of Lebensraum and a mug of hot Colditz. In fact, he sounds as if he might even be a Jew. A toasted bagel with cream cheese and lox is OK at Paddington station when you're waiting for a train. But if a pig hasn't been killed then we're not calling it breakfast.

If anything proves the dunderheaded wrongness of the fried British breakfast it's the fact that we crave one most when we've got a hangover. Sure, the fat and salt will exacerbate the dehydration that is causing the problem, making the headache worse, the sweats colder and the existential angst more palpable. But what the hell, we feel like it. We're drunk, we're underslept, we smell, we can't walk straight, it hurts to talk and all we want is something to make the blood rush to our stomach, and away from our brains, briefly ameliorating not only the cephalalgia, but also the guilt about snogging that tramp on the night bus. Something, above all, to thicken our sick when the nausea hits again.

And this you want to call a national dish?

Ross Anderson replies:

Hands off my sausage, Coren. I am not about to be lectured on what I eat by a man who gets paid for feeding his face.

The Times restaurant critic has a masterful way with words and a witty turn of phrase, but strip away the etymological pyrotechnics and what do you have? Preaching, that's what - and preaching of the worst sort: as practised by the nanny-state control freaks currently turning this country into a joyless puritan hellhole run by cyclists who knit their own tofu, where a glass of wine is a unit and lighting a fag risks summary execution for killing babies.

After smoking and drinking, it was obviously only a matter of time before the health gestapo turned their jackboots on us innocent lardbuckets. A tax on fat? Yeah, right, that'll work. Just like it does with alcohol and tobacco. We'll have ferryloads of white vans coming over from Calais laden with butter, cream, eggs and cheese to be sold by dodgy blokes with plastic carrier bags outside Whitechapel Tube station (“Pssst, squire, want a half pound of Normandy unsalted, only a quid?”).

What I didn't expect was that a man who eats for a living would recommend porridge, a vile, gelatinous slurry made from a crop that civilised people feed only to their animals, eaten chiefly by 18th-century crofters thrown off their land by the English and unable to afford proper food. As for one's palate being clean and mellow in the morning, speak for yourself, mate. After a night on the lash my mouth is like the bottom of a baby's pram, and I can rarely taste anything before noon.

Obviously, if you had a massive fry-up every morning you'd end up being winched into your grave by JCB or whatever, like that poor bloke in Wiltshire the other week. And anyway, who has the time? My standard weekday breakfast is two double espressos and an Old Holborn roll-up.

But the weekend? Ah, the weekend. Time to wheel out the giant, blackened cast-iron skillet and get frying: tight-skinned, juicy sausages from Sillfield Farm; sizzling rashers of streaky bacon from the Ginger Pig; plump Bury black pudding; a couple of golden-yolked, free range, organic eggs; a ripe tomato, halved and fried cut-side down with a dusting of sugar to caramelise; home-made Scots potato scones, home-made Irish soda bread. This is not about quantity, it's about quality and irreproachable provenance: ask any good butcher and he'll tell you the pig's name.

As for the notion that only stupid people eat fry-ups, this would be news in Martin's coffee house in Cambridge, where generations of geniuses have been getting it down their necks for decades. Or in Maria's caff in Limehouse, where some of the nation's finest financial brains shovel in the carbs before trotting off to make more millions at Canary Wharf. Equally risible is the suggestion that any of this is unhealthy. Tell that to the NHS's beleaguered GPs, their waiting rooms packed to the rafters with nonagenarian coffin-dodgers who for their entire lives have been packing away the Full English, the Full Scottish, the Ulster Fry and whatever they call it in Wales, and still have nothing more wrong with them than an ingrowing toenail. Tell it to the pension funds, struggling to pay out cash to people who, if any of this healthy eating claptrap were true, would have burst an artery years ago.

Your breakfast advice, Mr Coren? As we say in Scotland: save your breath to cool your porridge.

Times-tested nosheries

Kitkat Café, Old Lydd Road, Camber Rye, East Sussex TN31 7RH
Great little beach cafe. Sit out on the deck and admire the views while you tuck in.

Wolseley, 160 Piccadilly, London W11 9EB
Serves one of the best bacon baps in London, with champagne, to boot. Grandeur and great food.

The St Giles Café, 52 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU
Cheap little greasy spoon that has been curing student hangovers for years.

Gleneagles Hotel, Perthshire, Scotland PH3 1NF
The buffet breakfast is famously good.

Pete's Eats, 40 High Street, Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales, LL55 4EU
Where climbers go to fuel up before a hard day in Snowdonia.

E Pelicci, 332 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 0AG
Family-run east-end café that has fed gangsters (the Krays), artists (Gilbert & George), taxi drivers and families for over a century.

The ferry between Uig, on the Isle of Skye to Tarbert on the Isle of Harris
Proper greasy spoon at sea. Endless bacon, beans and sausages made out of Scottish cow blood.

The Albion Café, 14 Albion Street, Exmouth, Devon
Brilliant fry-ups for students.

The Green Welly Stop, Tyndrum, Crianlarich, Perthshire, FK20 8RY
Unlimited coffee, great eggs and bacon, incredibly efficient service.

S&M, Islington, Spitalfields, Portobello in London
Does the best fried-egg sandwich, sausages and mug of workman's tea - the best hangover cure in the world.

For a comprehensive nationwide list of organic box schemes

For the best local produce in your area visit the Times Real Food Directory

Of course humanities graduates don't eat a Full English! Surely most of them prefer to take advantage of McDonald's substantial employee discounts?

Daz (BEng, BSc), Worcester, UK

Mr Coren fails to mention the countless other obsessions sweeping through this society that end up doing far worse than creating dicomfort for the NHS.

If we gave up everything unhealthy, we would not work in stressful situations. Give manufacturers the responsibility of making healthier products.

Martin Godden, Billericay, England

Is the BMI the only measure that was used to determine obesity? The only problem this measure has is that it concludes that body builders, who have a particularly large mass for their height, are obese. The obese already pay more tax through VAT on fast food and processed junk food.

Jim, droitwich, uk

One of the things I hate about India is the absolute lack of any good meat. The only occasional salvation is having a home cooked fry up once every few months. India has the maximum amount of diabetics even though most people are vegetarian. Stick to your breakfast and enjoy your life.

Shivdeep Singh, Chandigarh, India

Wikipedia is a more accurate source of historical knowledge than Mr Coren. The working class of the 18th and 19th centuries couldn't have afforded such a luxurious meal. The affluent dined on the English breakfast. As for the rest, I don't think I've ever read anything more patronising.

Emma, Wallasey, UK

It is fair enough to warn people about the health risks of certain things, but as long as it doesn't harm anyone else they should be allowed to make their own descisions rather having somebody dictate to them what they can and can't eat.

Jacob, Swansea,

Suggest a South Indian Vegetarian Breakfast made up of Idlis (Steamed rice / dal cakes) with a sambar or ketchup and a vada (to provide sufficent fat for cells) ; OR Upma (similar to cream of wheat with salt instead of sugar. People live healthy and can do their normal work.

G N BHASKAR, SECUNDERABAD, INDIA

I wonder if Mr Coren has ever seen anyone with a degree eat a Birdseye frozen ready meal?

Danny McKay (phd), Liverpool,

Perhaps Mr. Coren missed it at university, but as the Greek Classics remind us: Everything in Moderation.

Josh Miller, Joliet, Illinois, USA

What's this about Tomatoes and Mushrooms in a fry up?
Isn't there a trace of the dreaded vitamins in these. Dump these and go for the baked beans.

Richard Edwards, Coventry, England

Good work, Ross. Although an Oxbridge (both) educated doctor with a BMI of 22, I too would be loathe to lose my weekend fry-up. St Giles Cafe is fantastic, but I defy anyone to get a smile out of the hostess!

Jules, Oxford,

Who are these people eating fryups? How much do they make ? I have an ivy league masters. I get paid a million five per film I star in. I get up in the morning and eat muesli with cold buttermilk. If its a cold day I eat microwaved oatmeal with salt. Fryups are for the audience, unwashed masses.

Hrithik Roshan, Mumbai, India

I've awaiting the decision on whether I receive my PhD in Computer Science, so this article is a load of crap! I love a traditional British breakfast! When you wake up and you're feeling hungry there really isn't any other alternatives that'll give you enough energy fpr 10 hours a day of research.

Mike, Bristol,

My mate asked me today what my ideal cooked breakfast was, I came up with egg, sausages, bacon, black pudding, baked beans, hash browns, two slices of buttered toast, one for the egg and one for the baked beans, fried tomatoes and a pot of tea! I don't need to eat for the rest of the day after that.

Tom, Worcester, UK

The amount of fat in them is BAD for you.
BAD.
Do you even wonder the average female is overweight and the country struggles with obesity when so many people jump to the epitome of a fatty meal's defence?

Christina, Southampton,

Long live the British breakfast! Hold fast to a culture that still tucks in to enjoy a good meal, or soon you will find yourself eating breakfast behind the wheel (like us Americans) or waiting in a drive through line to choose between seventeen cruddy flavors of yogurt smoothies.

Paul, Manchester, USA

The only thing i dont like about english breakfast is that there is never enough baked beans with it (tried to get them in Hamburg but no success so far) appart from that its just perfect. In my view, english breakfast works great when meeting business partners..of which most have a degree.

david, Hamburg, Germany

How on earth does someone who thinks porridge has an interesting flavour rise (sink?) to the rank of food critic?

Esther, London,

Giles I don't know what planet you live on if you imagine that working class people eat fry-ups for breakfast. Fry-ups are a luxury, and everyone I ever see eating one is middle class. There's nothing like 3000 calories in a fried breakfast, either, by the way.

Matt, London, UK

you never see anyone with a degree eating a fry up? what a load of old pony. And typical of the Time's inveterate snobbery.

tobias, London,

There is food for the body and there is food for the soul. A good english breakfast is an event to savour with the family. It just would not be the same with porridge.

Grant, Pymble,

Exactly, eating fry-ups has nothing to do with education!!!!
I work as a waitress in a 5-star hotel's restaurant, we cater mostly business travellers and approx. 70% are having full English breakfast in the morning!! They don'y seem to care, nor men neither women!
Personally, I would be unable to consume that amount of food for breakfast, so I am interested how others do so!!

Kathy, London

Kathy Swenson, london,

Oats make up a significant part of my home mixed muesli and is only eaten regularly because of elevated cholestrol. Given the choice I would not go near it as it constitutes my worst meal of the day and the very idea of adding salt to it turns my stomach. Unlike the mouth watering appeal of a full English breakfast which is enjoyed only on rare weekend occasions. The weekend alternative is nothing at all beyond a strong cup of tea - a welcome relief and treat from the dullness of the week.

Perhaps Mr Coren should consider a change in career, one that brings him closer to the will of the people he feels so inclined to insult through pompous ignorance.

Craig, Swindon, Wilts, UK

english break "fats" are like every other form of cooking in england - gloop

bert, Lundonium, south England,

The Little Chef Olympic breakfast hasn't been the same since they did away with the black pudding.

Tim Simpson BSc (hons) 2:1 Psychology, New Haw, Surrey

I've got a degree and I love English breakfast

-CM, Verona, Italy

The true British breakfast - must have beans and fried bread -has no match in any cuisine I have encountered in my travels. No-one would suggest it is healthy, but neither is foie-gras if you eat it every day. I always make sure to have it whenever possible on my visits to the land of my birth. Long live carefully managed cholesterol and carbs !!

Bill Atkins, Rehoboth Beach, USA

"a 2:1 or better" 2:1
"in a humanities subject" History and classical studies
"from a university founded before the invention of the iPod" 1822

Yes, I love the occasional fry-up, "occasional" being the operative word I think. What's more my wife, an American, has a bachelor's and master's from an even older university (1742) and thinks that our breakfasts are the best aspect of English cuisine. Admittedly her degrees are in a social science, so I dare say that Giles Coren would dismiss her opinion outright.

Roy Stilling, Gillingham, Kent, England

Pointless and reeking of snobbery.

Scott, Edinburgh,

People wih degrees are NOT stupied - surely not .. !

Paul Murphy, Liverpool, Merseyside

I dont care, I'm still going to eat it.

Lifes for living.
Its not a competition to see who can live the longest most boring, risk free life possible.

English Breakfast or stodge?
Gimme a break

Phill , Cheshire, England

My dear British friends,

Yes it's a killer, BUT: writing to you from the 'continent', I would like to express my sincere respect for the English breakfast - but only ONCE a week please and NOT after having crossed the Channel by ferry. And your fish and chips can compete with the best in Belgium.

Steven Surdèl, Leiden, Netherlands

My God, will the health lecture ever stop. I have a degree in Philosophy, and I think the mighty fry-up is only surpassed by the roast. I think you should stop thinking about fat people and consider that (rather than banning anything) moderation is the key to anything in life. Including bacon.

Phil Western, arequipa, peru

Mmmm.... I am now off for a fry up after having read all of this. I do have an engineering degree though, not a vastly superior 'humanities' degree so that probably explains my craving.

Rob, London, England

Ross Andersen defends the right of every man and some women to fry their national cuisine in Union Jack dye. It's a pathetic response to the question of what constitutes fresh wholesome eating, something I've rarely experienced in the overpriced UK establishments they call restaurants. It was always a relief to get to France where there is real pride in eating well - and fresh. Pull up to a lorry pit stop and lunch is gloriously hearty and straight out of the garden and nearby boucherie. How people in Britain can put up with the cr** on their plate is beyond me.

Barry Pither, White Rock, BC Canada

"If you eat fry-ups, you will get fat.
Fat, as I define it, is not being able to see your six pack even when you tense.

Being thin is more important than having the liberty to eat such a disgusting meal/"

Chris, Christchurch, Dorset

Chris - sincerely hope this was tongue in cheek. Or that you just haven't expressed what you were feeling quite as you'd hoped. If it still looks right to you - you sound like someone with an obsession about body image, on the verge of starting with an eating disorder. Don't begrudge the rest of us our indulgences because your priority is your image - and don't tar everyone with the 'fry-ups = fat lazy slob' brush. I'm a size 10-12, normal young woman, and I love the odd fry-up with tea and toast as much as the next girl!

Eleanor, Derbyshire,

Thanks Mr Coren - the article gave me (intelligent, ex-York Uni) quite a craving, so I've duly had a delicious lunch of bacon, runny fried egg, mushrooms, fresh cold sliced tomato, toast and marmalade, all washed down with a refreshing mug of tea.

I guess we rural Northern bumpkins have just better retained that knack of knowing exactly when good hearty fare is required over a more restrained cuisine (though I'm more than partial to croissants and coffee myself) - and allowing ourselves to enjoy it without considering how many of the elements of our meal are scientifically proven to kill us. Maybe. Someday.

Eleanor, Derbyshire,

(Wolseley) bacon baps and champs, I`m going to be ill, leave the champs for social events and bacon for the breaky, tea is the preferred choice.

peter hagan, liverpool, England

Didn't Ben Franklin say, "In all things, moderation"? It's not the poison, it's the dose.

Ed, Boca Raton, Florida

There's nothing technically wrong with an English breakfast - although the sausages are likely to be dodgy and what's with the obsession with baked beans - as long as you don't eat one every day. The real laugh is the idea of an English restaurant critic - now that's an oxymoron!!

Shane Castleman, Melbourne, Australia

I say don't tax the fat, tax the healthy -- they live longer. That way, the Brits will have a longer and steadier flow of tax money into government coffers. And we know the Brits love their taxes -- almost as much as the Democrats here in the US!

Tom, Felton, USA/CA

Hello from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, I read with interest your views on the great british fry up, i found it ermmm shall I say interesting/amusing even, and although I do not have time in the mornings to enjoy (and i use those words lightly) the great british fry up (3 adults and 3 children fighting for positions in a chaotic household) i feel i have to protect my english heritage, those are my rashers,! my bangers! and hands off me black puddin! but if you have ever tried 2 eggs on oat cakes spread with jam then you just dont know what your missing. Now eggscuse me while i check on the roast beef, yorkshire pudding and 2 veg.

susan carless, wolverhampton, england

Mr Anderson may fight for his freedom to overindulge but his healthcare is partly paid for by Mr Coren's taxes.

Katrin, Nicosia,

It's the calories and content you count, but not the pleasures and the moments. The "fry-up," as you call it, is the American Southern breakfast, a blessing in a frenzied world. Biscuits and bacon, eggs, grits, it's all a wonderful, calming, loving moment of comfort that everyone (yes, everyone!) can afford in eating out and in family time. With children, friends and even competitors. Even Prime Ministers who Save the World. And pols seeking compromise.

Skip supper if you must, but count this breakfast, Brit or American, as a moment of greatness in family, community and polity. Loneliness, atomization and isolation kill you faster than cholesterol.

Miguel

PS: I do like porridge, though.

Miguel, Louisville, Kentucky, United States

Damn, that "fry up" sounds good. I'll bet that a fry up for breakfast, a salad with lots of veggies for lunch, and a gin martini or two for dinner would turn out to be the best diet for anyone. Plus some chocolate here & there throughout the day.

As for porridge - feed it to the pigs. It will improve the fry up, and is unlikely to offend the pigs.

harmon, chicago, illinois USA

Didn't old Winston, and all of his breakfasts, live into his nineties?

David Roxborough, Whitby, Canada

I think Taxing the Fat is a brilliant idea, and starting at a young age. With healthcare costs what they are, and the state of people's health so abysmal, hitting people in their wallets is a guaranteed wake-up call.

Annzen, NY, NY

The infamous Martha Stewart has a Bachelor's degree in art history & made the fry-up on Conan O'Brien's late night chat show. I'm sure plenty of university grads in England eat the fry-up as well. And since when does having a degree automatically make a person better 'educated'??You Brits take this 'Class' thing way too far...

Nakszynski, New York City, New York

I thought the Great English Breakfast was a sideboard groaning with rashers and deviled kidneys and fish cakes and sliced beef and ham, eggs boiled, fried AND scrambled, followed by dry cold toast in a rack to be slathered with fresh farm butter and tart marmalade. Not to mention The Times Births & Deaths, and early morning mail delivery of invitations to tea and murder. The fryup doesn't sound nearly as glamorous.

Bonnie Jean, Strasburg, USA, Virginia

I've traveled through the UK quite a lot, and I can tell you that as soon as I keep accepting, morning after morning, the "Breakfast" in "Bed and Breakfast" I start gaining weight rapidly despite the days of walking around everywhere....delicious but fattening as hell!!

Nyla, Toronto, ON

"Bacon, ham, sausage, all these foods are full of nitrates and other things designed to prolong shelf-life, and the longer the shelf-life the greater the bacterial activity". And there was me thinking that good sausages are freshly made and good bacon contains no additives except salt, which if done properly will preserve it for months, if not years thus preventing bacterial activity. As for the lack of carbohydrates in the English breakfast, is not the traditional accompaniment toast ? Personally I prefer a bacon sandwich with wholemeal organic, and eggs, bacon, and beans on the side; oh, and an orange and toast with honey as a starter. Sounds pretty damn healthy and tasty to me provided the bacon is kept in moderation; no better start to a day's walking around some of the finest ale houses in Berkshire. Perhaps some kindly farmer will give Mr Coren some best bacon; or alternatively some best manure, preferably some from a bull

adrian evans, Reading,

If you eat fry-ups, you will get fat.
Fat, as I define it, is not being able to see your six pack even when you tense.

Being thin is more important than having the liberty to eat such a disgusting meal/

Chris, Christchurch, Dorset,

MMM, yeah, no offense guys, but a breakfast like that simply isn't, well, a breakfast. Looks like lunch or dinner to me. Way too much for a morning stomach. Now, to tell you the truth, I'd love a breakfast like that.

Juan JosÃ© Barizone, CÃ³rdoba, Argentina

Counterexample:
I am a grad student with a Bachelor of Mathematics and in a few months I will be done my Masters. I eat fry-ups on most weekends. I weigh 130 lbs. Eating fry-ups can be done in moderation, so why punish me if others are irresponsible about it?

Nick, Halifax, Canada

I like a fry after a big night out. But I live in Wales now and miss my Ulster fry with soda and potato bread.

Kate (BSc Zoology Hons 1st class)

Kate, Cardiff,

Whether I agree with this article's intention or not...It gave me a good laugh in the morning which is almost as important to me as my breakfast. It surely is quite exaggerated but you can't say that the author is telling you pure rubbish. There IS indeed healthier food than traditional English Breakfast (though I personally love it) but if you don't stuff in a "Full traditional" everyday, you can enjoy it just as you enjoy a good bar of chocolate or a cake. People always feel insulted if you tell them what to do and what they shouldn't, so it doesn't matter if it comes wrapped with scientific precision and careful suggestions, the sneaky attitude of adverts or the straight ahead "do as I say you stupid folks" style of this article. I didn't take it that serious to be honest but I have to completely agree with the author in one point: the English sausage in general is an insult to the German taste which doesn't mean that I haven't found exceptions, still they are rare, I'm afraid.

Heidi, Munich, Germany

Whenever we travel during our stay in England(90's) it was a joy to eat English breakfast anywhere, farmhouses, Little Chef, yes, the best, York Hotel where they have a full range of breakfast from the killer to the healthy. We truly miss it, and if I may add to the lists, clotted cream.

Lia, Guangzhou, China

The problem is not fry-ups per se, rather the quantities, and hence the calories, consumed. Absolutely nothing wrong with porridge and a small but still substantial fry-up for breakfast replacing a cooked lunch as part of a moderate diet. Beats being hungry after a meagre breakfast and then snacking on processed nibbles and at least one knows what is going into a fry-up if one buys all the raw ingredients with provenance - but no sausages!

Mike, Harlow,

I haven't laughed this hard in quite a while! As an American, your British humor and in particular this fellow's acrid sarcasm, tickled me pink! I lol'd at the suggestion of American imperialism in the introduction of hash browns to England. And the "whey-faced generation of feckless British fatties"? Hey, I have news! We've got'em over here, too! Glory all that many of our kids can do is use there thumbs for texting and hand held video games!

Now I'll admit to enjoying a fry-up now and then, British or American ( I was priveleged to spend a week on business on the Isle of Wight a couple of years back). But only occasionally. I've dropped 4 st without being all that hungry by eating healthier and exercising. Oatmeal ( or Cherrios, or a shredded wheat cereal) with some fruit, milk, coffee, I can get full on that, and go chop stumps and firewood all morning.

So the man has a point.

Tom, Pittsburgh, PA USA

Some people in Britain seem to have a serious problem with the term "class". What is all this stuff about degrees and social background and what does it all have to do with breakfast? And the bit on names, surnames and the war is definitively unpalatable.

Margarita, Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

I'm sure that, in the admirable quality that only the Left possess, Giles Coren would pronounce himself a tolerant person.

Michael, Chicago, IL, USA

What absolute snobbish rubbish. I'm an academic and married to a man with more degrees than hair (these days) and he and I both adore fried breakfasts - admittedly only sometimes. And Ross is quite right about the preaching - this article reeks of sanctimonious priggishness; lecturing people about food and drink has replaced lecturing people about sex and drugs - those things are now ok in any quantities or variety - as long as you eat porridge for breakfast!!!

donatella, London, UK

What's your degree in, journalism or food studies? Either way you're obviously too thick to appreciate that when you're hungover what you are lacking is potassium, which is found in salt. Admittedly ten bananas and a glass of orange juice would be better for you, but if you cared that much about your health you wouldn't be consuming large quantities of alcohol in the first place.

And Germans lecturing us on sausages? I think it's fair to say that we Brits should be fearing the wurst..

Dan X, Cardiff, Wales

"You never see a person with a degree eating a fry-up, do you?"

err, yes, frequently.

Roger, Southwark,

I adore a fry-up, but they are an occasional treat rather than a daily indulgence. I am also re-discovering the charm of porridge from a takeaway on days when I start work early and don't have time for cereal before I leave the house.

Blue Baby, London,

Get a load of U.S. chain Denny's signature "Lumberjack Slam" breakfast. With 1040 calories, 53 grams of fat, 3380mg of sodium, and 84 grams of carbohydrates is it any wonder that we Americans are the #1 World Fatties? We are so proud!

Two buttermilk pancakes, a slice of grilled honey ham, two bacon strips, two sausage links and two eggs*, plus hash browns or grits and choice of bread.

Lisa, West Palm Beach, Florida

I've got a degree in Law and fry-ups are fantastic !

Ivan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

get rid of the tomato...

Donna, Orlando, Fl

Great article!
Who can resist an english breakfast? However best not to have it too often.. Moderation is key as with all the yummy food deemed to be unhealthy..

Hena, Brighton, UK

Thanks for stating the obvious!

christopher, vietnam,

I have an HND in Electronic Engineering and like coffee and a croissant.

Do I need help?

John, London,

Fresh ingredients can be used when possible and a fry-up does not mean 'deep-fried'.
Let us put the Great British Breakfast on the UNESCO World Heritage list!

Dr A. Schelberg, Germany,

Being from Reigate Surrey though now living in Scottsdale AZ I have a Sunday Brunch to which several American friends are invited:

1. Four people = 2 bottles of fizz.

2. Followed by several Ruddy Bloodys

3. Followed for each: two greasy fried eggs, hash browns, two bangers, two strips bacon, with Coleman's mustard of course, fried tomatoes and fried mushrooms.

4. Followed by burnt poppyseed buttered bagels and coffee.

5. Then a nice game of shuteye.

David B. Monier-Williams Scottsdale, AZ. US

David B. Monier-Williams, Scottsdale, US/ AZ

Belly up, my timid friend. As cookbook author Steve Graham says, eat what you want and die like a man.

margaret, Monterey, CA, USA

As an ex pat banished to the culinary waste land of Houston, when ever I arrive at Gatwick on my twice yearly sebatical to visit family and friends the very first thing I do is stop at the M25 services and have the full English breakfast. The last thing I do before I get on the plane to go back to the states is have the full English breakfast in the airport. I do not have a Phd but regard myself as a fairly intelligent individual. Once in a while is fine, but I would not indulge every day, nor I doubt do that many people either. Why is it OK to tell us that we can't eat what we choose? Soon we will be told when its time to go to bed! Two eggs, bacon, sausage, fried bread and beans please.

keith manton, houston, USA

I concur with Rachel's suggestion.
Professor Annette Laing, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

Annette Laing, Statesboro, Georgia, USA

Take two cups full of coarse-ground autumn sun-dried leaves, a similar quantity of sieved sweepings from the bottom of the cage of an organically-fed hamster, one cupful of dried and diced crusts from a Romanian black-bread loaf and add a teaspoonful each of cummon, ground star arrogance and Botswanan fairtrade sugar. Mix well but don't worry too much as it well separate into its constituent parts within a day or two.

Call this concoction Mously or something similar and fool yourself into believing that it is extremely healthy, like yoghurt and vitamin supplements.

Eat a small amount each morning whilst smugly feeling sorry for those poor, uneducated louts who are enjoying a full English.

R Bingham, Lauzun, France

I adore a good English breakfast but only on occasion.

M. Brown, Amsterdam, Netherlands

There's a great fry-up cafe on Church Road in Teddington, Middlesex. I don't go there very often but it's always an experience, and great value.

dominic, Teddington, Middlesex, UK

I used to have a fry-up every other day but then I went to university.

Vinay Mehra, Purley, Surrey

I've got a degree in physics with space technology and I love fry-ups.

Robin Johnson, Edinburgh,

Try a hard day's military life on a French breakfast of bread ,cafe and butter compared to the great british breakfast and understand why the French have never won a war.

mike harrison, aubagne, france

I really enjoyed the article about English breakfast and agree with the writer completely excep about people with degrees not eating it, that is absurd. Occasionally maybe oncea year I fancy an English breakfast and don't think there is anything wrong in that. I like porridge but made with milk and not water and in the winter not the summer.

Renny, Ramat Hasharon, Israel

I have a degree and I eat fry-ups - i do it in plain sight too!

Perhaps I'm just not conceited enough to avoid things I enjoy for the sake of my unavoidable death - or to make a living by saying things just to antagonise people. The words of Christopher Lasch become more poignant every day!

Gray, Loughborough,

I don't mean to sound smug but I get our family meat from a butcher who rears his own livestock in the fields nearby our home (in a national park).

We have full English breakfasts about twice a week but grill, bake or boil most of the components. The tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs are all fresh.

There is absolutely nothing wrongs with a sensibly prepared full English as part of a varied diet - in fact, I need it as a fell runner. City living is the problem. It is unsustainable.

Outdoors Shop Owner, Dales, England

What utter jibberish.

As a corporate solicitor with a first class honours degree in law, I do not find my education in anyway an impediment to enjoying a ritual fry-up every Saturday lunchtime at my local greasy spoon cafe.

I really find it quite absurd that people are able to take such a snobbish position to what eventually ends up swilling around in a toilet bowl.

Daniel, Belfast,

Anything and everything in moderation !!

INCLUDING ; smoking, politics, exercise, full english, you name it!.
The causes of obesity and bad health are - yes!
'EXPERTS'
Not one epidemiological study has ever proved it's case, yet we continue to be influenced by them.

Pied piper and rats come to mind. Frightening!!

Regards,
BA (Hons) and over 55yrs!!

winstonian, Darlington, UK

Makes me glad I don't have a degree, I can eat a full English with impunity. Yum, yum.

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

Wow, plenty of people just looking for an excuse to boast about their academic credentials. Bit pathetic really. Yes, well done, you're all terribly clever...

laura, london,

an essential addition to a full english breakfast...avacado. trust me and try it next time. amazing.

Max, Yamagata, Japan

In the UAE it's not so easy to find pork on the menu and beef bacon is not unheard of.
So, all this talk about pigs is making me feel rather hungry.

Ade, Dubai, UAE

It's not a great British breakfast, it's an ENGLISH breakfast. Thankyou.

Glenn beckett, Sydney, Australia

I have run an enchanting Guesthouse in Eskbank near Edinburgh. In 11 years we have sidestepped any notion that we will offer anything fried. Our breakies are Highland and fabulous:

Try Birchemuesli ( Swiss = a kind of apple Cranachan ) followed by porridge with a pinch of salt and a dollop of braw cream & someimes a sliced banana on top - Canny beat it ...
For the cooked third course - who on the planet can fail to love our Herring dipped in egg and oatmeal and fried in butter.....(the vinegar is then the coup de grace...jist taks yer breath awa ' ).....or a bonnie wee Mallaig boned kipper.......or an Ettrick poached salmon fillet with a pile of fresh rosemary in aboot.... oh & a bit lemon and toastit tattie scone... or maybe a smokit peppered hot mackarel. We are kind tae yon Veggies too & do our best and to those with nae taste (buds) -we offer francophyle toast ( eggy ghost to the non cogniscenti !) with grilled (SHHH!) bacon or scrammlt egg.
Scrummy!

Ewan - The Guesthouse @ Eskbank, Dalkeith, Scotland /UK

Giles Coren why do you attack people's diet when you've noticed in the article that the only problem is physical inactivity.

Igor, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Look, if you don't want a fry-up just say, you can have cereal instead.

Stevo, London,

It doesn't matter what you eat, if you eat too much of it you're asking for trouble.

A full Irish (or English, or anything else) won't kill you as long as you're eating it occasionally.

Thomas Ralph, Dublin 4, Ireland

Doesn't this guy realise that overeating is nothing to do with intelligence, but with emotion? I run classes where I help people to successfully lose weight. These people are from all walks of life, many of whom are very intelligent and very well educated. These people know that a fry up every day is going to make them gain weight but the desire for those sausages and bacon and the mere smell of bacon wafting in the air is enough to send them into a frenzy and all common sense goes out of the window. I don't have a degree but I've managed to lose weight and keep it off for almost 20 years. It's my mission now to help other people to do the same. I do that by telling them that by following a healthy balanced diet with a few treats thrown in, that they can achieve control and lead a much happier and healthier life. Support is essential, not criticism and the implication that because you haven't attended university that you're as thick as those greasy sausages on the plate.

colette, preston, uk

Well, Wilma, no doubt youprefer your own national sausages, the long thin kind that come out of tins? Or your plastic cheese that bounces, or your equally palstic ham that clearly didn't come from the meat of a pig as it has no grain in it? Or the ultimate delight - I can still remember my utter disbelief when I saw my ex-mother-in-law eat this - strawberries on a piece of bread and butter?
Horrors!!!

Susannah, Hereford, UK

Quote "I can't remember the last time I saw an obese person over the age of 55...
Ben, Newcastle"

That's because there all dead!

JD, St Albans, UK

Most ridiculous thing I've ever read.
I went to an Oxford college, one with a good reputation for food, but they served some of the most unhealthy fried breakfasts I've ever seen in the morning, and given that I'd usually just come off the river, I practically funnelled it.
Apparently, I have ridiculously low cholesterol, and weigh 9 stone, so I fail to see the harm and the whole article reads like some bitter, twisted rant.

Freya, London,

Seriously, *who* has a fry-up every day?

You do know that if you drink enough water, it will kill you? Too much oxygen will kill you. Too much ANYTHING will kill you.

I really don't care if any so-called scientific study tells me that bran flakes or toast is bad for me - I enjoy it for my breakfast, and that's what I'm jolly well going to have.

As for the fry-up? Guess what? Once in a blue moon, it might actually do you some good.

Jo, Oxford, UK

I have a 2:1 in a subject that can be considered either a humanities or science degree, depending on you opinion. The university I went to was founded long before the cassette was invented let alone the iPod. I believe that is the criteria mentioned for the amount of intelligence needed to not eat Fried breakfasts is it not? Well I enjoy the occasional fried breakfast, and as for the health risks, if I was to listen to every piece of research that is reported in the press I would never eat, drink or do anything ever again, of course I would then still be getting it 'wrong'.

Natasha, Northampton,

Several points

1) I have a BA and an MSc and love a good fry up

2) Agree wholeheartedly with those who say it is a good hangover cure.

3) A fry-up is also a surprisingly good cure for jet lag. I fly to the States a lot as my family lives there and every time I return to England on a night flight, when we arrive, I find the nearest caff and my jet lag is significantly reduced.

4) Moderation is the key. If you eat fry-ups 24-7, that's not such a good idea but every so often is fine.

Laetia, Reading,

Never mind the calories. That kind of breakfast is simply digusting and should be renamed: "Full Rubbish".

J. Foster, Birmingham,

I must agree, the part about degrees was amusing.

Perhaps in England, college degrees are actual indicators of education. Here in America, we have Ivy League role models like our current President--who can't finish a sentence off the cuff without saying something laughable.

Kevin Tuma, Hillsboro, Texas USA

How often does it have to be said? THERE IS NO CONNECTION BETWEEN HEART DISEASE AND DIET CHOLESTEROL. The greasy spoon breakfast is far more healthy than that bowl of porridge. For weight control, low blood glucose and general happiness, keep away from carbohydrates and kep eating bacon & egg. Lovely!

Brian Fitzsimmons, Colchester,

This isn't about what you need, but what makes life worth living! Bacon and eggs and potatoes are some of the most tasty things to eat for breakfast, PERIOD! Look, it's the fast food that is killing people, not honest to goodness whole meals! Get real, author of this outrageous story. After reading it I made my own English breakfast and am delirious with joy! Yet this seems to be impossible, because I am a doctor and only weight 205 pounds at 6'2 and full of muscle. Man, you guys are getting as bad as us over here across the pond! Enjoy the small things in life people! Sometimes that is all we have to look forward too!!!

Dr. John, Palo Alto, CA, USA

Firstly, I have a Masters Degree in Engineering and still enjoy the occassional fry-up. Does that mean I have to hand my degree back?

Second why the hang-ups aboout Full English, Scottish,. American? Given that the fry-up originated at the time Irish Navvies were building canals and railways it should probably be known all over as the "Full Irish".

As for the difference between "Full English" and "Full Scottish", the Scottish version switches tattie-scone for fried bread and either haggis or white-pudding for black pudding. The bacon, sausage egg, tomatoes and mushrooms remain the same.

expatjock, Dubai, Middle East

I can't remember the last time I saw an obese person over the age of 55...

Ben, Newcastle,

Maybe i'm a senile and self-destructive nostalgic individual but an English breakfast is equally a part of my semi-British gene pool as the White Cliffs of Dover, the Battle of Britain and the Grand National!

Ray Massart, Hombeek, Belgium

It is food for physically hard working people who spend the day outside in wet and cold weather.

These times are over for most of us.

But from time to time it is delicious !

Peter Vernunft, Berlin, Germany

You guys waving about your degrees makes me want to throw up. Any relation to medicine, health or nutrition? Thought not.

Andrew Milner, Karuizawa, Japan

Ahem.

I have a degree. I have had (since graduation) numerous fry-ups. Pr'haps if we (meaning you) got off our arse, the health affects would seem less daunting.

The numerous (and I mean hundreds) of long-living farmers in my family tree would argue that we (meaning me) would do well with more "hearty fare" such as you disdain, and less processed dreck from the schleppers of schlock.

Packaged foods require chemical engineering education to read. And, as a rule, chemical engineers don't live as long as farmers.

You're throwing rocks in the wrong pond, lad. Try again...but, only after you've had a good hearty breakfast.

Dan, Portland, US

Deprived expats in Hong Kong and Malaysia should fly over to Bangkok for the weekend.

No shortage of 'full English' breakfasts here - and don't be fooled by frequent false billing such as 'full American' or 'full Australian'. Thais are are a bit shaky about these distinctions.

My favourite, the 'full Austalian' offered just down my soi, will set you back all of 80 baht (GBP 1.25). For that, you get coffee or tea, two eggs on toast, baked beans, a huge (and very tasty) sausage and 2 rashers of bacon. If you want to spend actual money, then at a buffet breakfast at just about any of the big hotels will last you a month.

Actually, I live 90% of the time on Thai food - a rare example of healthy food which actually tastes wonderful. But when the sudden cravings kick in for a fry-up, steak and kidney pie, mutton Madras, a roast with all the trimmings or even marmite on toast, you need to be able to satisfy them easily or else expat life isn't worth living.

John, Bangkok, Thailand

Pray Mr Coren, what do you want us to die from? As die we all surely will one day, no matter what we do. So eat up and be happy.

Barry Mellish, Bromley, UK

And the mortality rate of the human race dropped below 100% - when excactly ?

wills, soton, uk

Why on Earth would anyone eat BAKED BEANS for breakfast..?

But seriously, aside from the gaseous beans, the great English breakfast sounds a lot like the great American breakfast..both unhealthy. But are they less healthy than sugary meals of breakfast cereal and toast with jam? Or French Toast sticks with syrup (now common at US fast food outlets)? Or the horrendous calorie-laden IHOP breakfast wallowing in pancakes and butter?

Where am I going with this? Only pointing out that all breakfasts in Western civilization seem to be fattening and unhealthy, most especially those served in restaurants.

I personally have never liked pork. Yet one cannot find a sit-down breakfast in the US without bacon or pork sausage. Why do my already high-cholesterol eggs have to be accompanied by lard? Why not mutton or broiled meats and vegetables? Is anyone listening in the restaurant industry?

Kevin Tuma, Hillsboro, Texas USA

I am an American and no stranger to high fat large portioned meals. The last time I visited the UK I ordered a full English breakfast when I spotted one on the menu. I had heard of it, but had never tried it. I was astonished at the amount of food on the plate when it arrived. I enjoyed it thoroughly, but this is clearly not the kind of meal one can have regularly and expect to reach old age.

Jim Silberman, New York City, NY USA

2:1 in humanities maybe, but you just need to turn up for the first day of a science degree to know fry-ups everyday isn't going to do you much good.

Rob M, Birmingham, UK

Excuse me. Masters degree is two months from done, and I would KILL to have a decent one of these every morning. My great grandmother died at 103 and ate this sort of stuff for breakfast every morning.

strixus, Atlanta,

Pish-Tush, Poo-bah, and Nanki-Poo to all the food Nazis. I've got 'em on the list. Because some day it may happen that a victim must be found.

The British Breakfast: what better strategy to fight overpopulation?

Christopher Chantrill, Seattle, USA

It's not so much what you eat, but how much physical activity a person gets. Truck drivers do not rate very high on the job exertion meter. And Olympic athetles would do very well on the English breakfast. I had never heard of this breakfast combo before, but it sounds great and I am going to try it.

Tom, Canandaigua, New York

to ross anderson
what a reply,fantastic response.
is exactly the way i felt about the article
having recently been back to the uk for a fry up.It doesn't taste as good abroad.IE Australia and the Usa. all i can say is long livethe god ol english breakfast

bgreenway, liberty, usa

I live in the US and miss the good old English breakfast. Some time ago, I flew down to Florida to meet my brother and his family, who were there on holidy from his job in Saudi Arabia.

Imagine my surprise when I went down to breakfast and found baked beans, English sausages and fried tomatoes. This in a normal US hotel.

It was then that I found out that the school holidays had just started in England and the hotel was catering to the English tourists. Great

Davod, Washington, SA

What kind of a degree? -Never heard of an Aussie, or American breakfast. I followed a Yank as he filled his plate with bacon, sausages, eggs, mushrooms, hash browns, pancakes Maple syrup and fruit on top of that.

Actually research is needed I have got my fathers army recipe book Two fats-suet and dripping went in everything including soups 6 million troops fought all over the world for 6 years. No record of falling down with heart attacks.

I worked in chemical factory, plant used chemicals that caused bladder cancer. No heart attacks. Next plant used nitro products plenty heart attacks.

People started dying in 60s. every holiday there was someone missing, big sensation at time, used to wonder who would go next. Usually someone quietly working in office, workers all fit and healthy, then they started going, along with bosses.

So time someone woke up heart attacks were not inevitable until 1960s/70s. Now better understood, and treated, but food ??? Big questions need answer.

ged, manchester,

I love a good fry up, but I also love to exercise, so I am not a fatty. You don't need a degree to understand why that works.

Oliver, MA Classics (distinction) BA (hons) Classics (first class) Exeter University.

Oliver, Bristol,

The great thing about life is, although I am sure it will all end in tears and we will all suffer a terrible death, our pensions crisis will be solved by our obesity, and early graves and global warming cured by increasing fuel prices. Relax. Open a bottle of wine. Put on a few sausages. Vote. Take a few minutes to look at the stars(before the days get too long (and warm, and wonderful)) It could be much worse. PS does anyone want to buy a house!!!

Daniel, London, UK

My wife and I usually eat a fried breakfast with a beer after having danced all night. I think we've earned our 3,000 calories! My wife took philosophy at Cambridge.

Guy Dawson, London, UK

Obviously not heard about the Atkins diet where you have to have bacon and eggs for breakfast, no bread of course but it does keep you going until lunch, and you lose weight about 12lbs in a month

Jayne Cleveley, Reigate , Surrey

Well Wilma I once bought a cigarette in Amsterdam and thought I was a sausage!

Chris Jay, Shropshire,

I know this article is a wind up but here goes....

2:1 Engineering and I don't think Newton or Nehru had iPods (more Nobels than France too incidentally).

How does a humanities degree teach you about science, you probably believe everything Al Gore tells you too.

Try Junkfoodscience.blogspot.com and get an education before you die of a surfeit of organic non-GM nonsense.

Nigel, Faversham,

The full Scottish being what? Probably the same as the full English only half the size.

Nick Dixon, Sutton Coldfield, England

So, you say that no one with a degree ever eats a full English breakfast Mr Coren? Well, you obviously haven't been to a breakfast sitting in an Oxford University college then.

Please don't talk such tripe.

And, with regards to the European versus English sausages and the relative health benefits, have you ever looked inside a European sausage? They're usually 50% pure lumps of animal fat. Quite tasty yes, but hardly healthy.

Craig Slater, Oxford,

I love my grilled bacon, grilled sausages and eggs fried in a little oil on a griddle. Add some baked beans, toast and a cup of tea (with sweeteners) and where is the harm in that? As for nobody with a degree has a fry up?
Ralph Hands BA (Hons) Politics and Contemporary History.

Ralph Hands, Stockport,

when i am on holiday, i always try and have at least one trad fry-up breakfast. life is too short to be puritanical about pleasure eating. of course i would not dream of eating this everyday. what nonsense comment he has made - as if all graduates do not smoke because it is bad for them. or all graduates do not break the speed limit because it is dangerous for them/others

BTW i am a multi-graduate. so there....

Magda, glasgow,

No doubt nobody has a good word to say about the other kind of traditional breakfast, a coffee and a fag.

James Jarvis-Pink, Highbridge, UK

So let me get this right, I give up fried breakfast and get a degree?
Kewl.
I'll get back to you.

Paul M, Puerto del Rosario, Spain

"According to the immune biologist Dirk Budka ..."

To what, specifically, is he immune, may I ask?

Now, Mr Coren, this attack on one of Britain's major food groups (grease; the others being chocolate and lager) is most unpatriotic. Shame on you.

Thomas Fuller, Bath,

The grills available now adays make this food a lot healthier I think? - why don't you get one of your health freaks to do a comparison - I've got a george forman gill and 'grill ups' taste just as good if not better and its all cooked in its own fat/oil and the rest drains away - not quite the same I suppose but tastes good!

Mark, London, UK

I think that the English Breakfast is totally justified ONLY if you are about to do one or several, and possibly all of the following:

~ Silver and Gold DoE (Sorry Bronzers, but drunk people walk further to get home at night)
~ Diving, Mountain Biking, Climbing (OUTSIDE), and indeed anything physical that takes longer than an four hours and causes you to lose your breath/panic at any time, and that makes you lose weight FAST, especially if you require a start earlier than 5am
~ If you are about to take part in ANY sporting TOURNAMENT other than curling, snooker/pool, darts, golf, any form of board games, and generally dull/intellectual/stationary sports
~ You are near Pete's Eat (note - you are ONLY allowed to eat in there, or indeed even enter, IF you have done one, many or all of the above)
~ You are about to take an exam at or above A2 Level in any subject excepting General Studies
~ You are about to leave the
~ About to travel via the British rail network

James Cornish, Lancaster, Lancashire

Re: the 2:1/iPod comment. That was a joke, alright? A joke. Perhaps you need a 2:1 in a humanities subject etc etc to get it.

That said I used to go to St Giles cafe in Oxford after football every Saturday morning and I never saw anyone finish all their chips.

Laurence Davison, Sydney, Australia

I think I felt my chest squeeze a little looking at that picture. I just don't know of anyone who would need that obscene amount of calories to start their day.

Andrew, Phoenix, AZ, USA

To Ross, In the current economic climate, isn't "finest financial brains" an oxymoron, and proof of Giles's article.

Bill Peter, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

As the heart disease epidemic began in the 1920's it is highly unlikely that animal fat is the culprit (dietary records go back far enough), and modern studies are now pointing at other possibilities, such as margarines and vegetable oil, certain forms of chlamydia, and links to fructose (via triglycerides). In addition we are hunter-gatherers, and so our bile gland is most suited to a fry up, particularly if you keep it well used with a hunter-gatherer regime, which most certainly does not include porridge.

Gallstone problems are caused by non-use of the bile gland through unnaturally low-fat diets: the bile effectively chrysalises.

Greg Lorriman, Leatherhead, UK

How right you are, Giles.

As well as the excessive fat in the English breakfast, there is usually too much salt - in the bacon and sausages and frequently added to the eggs by the diner. Over the long term, excess salt is a poison and will lead to narrowing of the arteries.

The major cancer research institutions have conducted many studies which confirm the link between bowel and prostate cancer, and the consumption of processed meats and red meat. It is sensible to limit the intake of these, including sausages and bacon.

Rob Kittle, London, UK

Fry-ups are frightfully camp, avoid.

Bob Tired, London,

I'm Dutch, but whenever I visit friends in Manchester we'll have good fry-up in the morning after a good night of drinking in the pub.
I love it, just don't do it every day and you'll be fine!

Joris, Woerden, The Netherlands

3 coffees for breakfast. That's all.

eric, paris,

Dont fry - grill! Then trim and dab the bacon in tissue, split the sausage lengthways and press firmly between kitchen paper until practically all the grease has been removed ( try it you'll be amazed at the amount of fat it soaks up and it still tastes as good ) and there you have it, a healthy 'fry-up'.

Gordon.R., edinburgh,

My father was born in England and every morning that I can remember he cooked his bacon, eggs and potatoes and finished it off with a glass of whole milk. He was 5'11 and weighed about 177 all his life. His weight never budged. His cholesterol was low and so was his blood pressure. What killed him was addiction to smoking. He died of lung cancer.

I believe the Greeks when they cautioned: "Everything in moderation." (Except the smoking!)

Katherine, Scottsdale, Arizona

Bacon is the unhealthiest meat in the market, any one could ever eat. This is why all the pork eating people of the West suffer from severe obesity and jumping cholestrol levels.... it's all in the bacon, trust me. Now give it up or substitute it and save your life!

Ezra, london, UK

To AJ Preston in Australia, if the past was so wonderful, based on diet, how come the average life expectancy for an adult male a hundred years ago was 51 years ? on that basis I'd already be dead ! it's not what you eat, so much as what's in your head. No one is eating EBBS & 2 Slices every day, I think the 'Media' is far more toxic for the system, optimism, friendship, congeniality and a positive outlook on life are just as important as diet, if not more so. Eat that Mr Coren, you might live longer [downed with a glass of Malbec]. More doom stories from the media anyone !

Andrew Wakeling, London, uk

The error here is the assumption that if a person eats calorie rich food then he will get fat.

However the appetite and its satiation depend also on the types of food eaten and on the _mental interpretation_ of the eating process. For example, it's very hard to get fat from eating just butter (try it). Some depressed people overeat in order to comfort (numb) themselves.

Btw, a breakfast of sausage, eggs, bacon and mushrooms will produce a lower spike in blood sugar than a complex carbohydate meal.

Tom, Bristol, UK

Included in this article was the phrase, "British outdoor-reared...." Is it just me? Or......I don't know. I don't know what I'm saying here. Forgive me...

Ian, Washington, DC

Before the mass availability of sugar and wheat flour as daily consumables, there was no heart disease,diabetes,stroke or...ha ha , fatty boom bah children. As if Bacon and Eggs is bad for you. Come off it , Its Sugar and Flour Innit. How hard is this to work out. If we all went back to meat and 3 veg like great grand dad with old fashioned low gluten, less refined bread and bugger all sugar then guess what ? The top ten diseases would all but disappear . Not going to happen but , because everyone is dumbed down and propagandised by the corporations who sell sugar and flour .

AJPreston, Brisbane QLD, Australia

Amidst the stresses of trying to achieve a 2:1 in law at a red brick university, I can safely say a few rolls and sausage were had from the newsagents nearby. Fuel for studying some might say. The working classes may find it cheaper and more filling to eat such things regularly though.. trying to be healthy on a daily basis, particularly when at uni/work, is not as cheap as you might think..

carla, glasgow, scotland

Giles Coren is simply scare mongering. I except he has a glass or two when he walks into a restaurant to sample their food. Alcohol like many things we consume is disastrous for our bodies at a cellular level, however it does not immediately impact our health as it has an accumulative effect. As long as we donâ€™t have a good fri-up every day or go binge-drinking on a regular base then I doubt most people have anything to worry about. Anyway the physiological benefits of a good fri-up are undeniable, especially when your drenched having spent the last four days camping in the wilderness of Snowdonia and finally stumble across Pete's Eats!

James Cornish, Lancaster, Lancashire

Maybe stop eating it yourselves, but keep the tradition alive for us tourists. There are few things sweeter than starting your British holiday saddling up to a Full English.
Besides, it's healthier than it's Canadian equivalent: English Breakfast - any vegetables + pancakes + maple syrup on everything = more calories than you'd ever need on the coldest day.

Amanda Boucahrd, Edmonton, Canada

I spent many happy mornings during my time as an undergraduate at Oxford eating fry-ups, many of which were served in the College dining hall. People with degrees eat fry-ups!

Kate, Dorset, England

Guess where I stand by reading my blog

www.breakfastliverpool.blogspot.com

Fred Chan, Liverpool,

We once bought breakfast sausages in a well-known supermarket when on holiday in Britain. I am sorry to say that we did not eat them, after one (very small) bite we threw them in the bin.

Wilma Prins, Vossemeer, the Netherlands

So you live five years longer.
Is it worth it if you're be incontinent
and don't know who you are.

Give me a fry up any day.

In the words of Freddie Mercury
"who wants to live forever"

gareth, Birmingham,

"You never see anyone with a degree eating a fry-up; they're too intelligent to consume it, says Times restaurant critic"...
Wrong!
:)

Mat, Brighton,

Oh, lighten up, you lot! It's a funny article. I agree with both of them.

Nickyhusky, Lutterworth, Leics

Test your hypotheses.
Professor Rachel Dwyer, BA, MPhil, PhD

Rachel Dwyer, London,

I love a full-English breakfast, unfortuantely they are hard to come by here in Malaysia, unfortunately as an Islamic country it has a negative view of Pork, so you get "interesting" alternatives like Beef bacon or chicken sausages at most restaurants.

Salivating in SE Asia (with a Masters).

Nathan, Penang, Malaysia

I think the occasional fry-up is okay - and I *have* a 2i in humanities and a first class Bsc, too. Now, what does that mean.

I also have to defend my porridge - food of the gods and I have that a couple of days a week. And when I'm not eating that, I'm eating good old German bread and rolls.

A little bit of everything does you good.

Tina, Dusseldorf, Germany

I have been living in Hong Kong for over two years and I really miss British food such as fish and chips and a traditional breakfast. The King's Wark, Leith in Edinburgh does a fabulous big brekkie with haggis, black pudding, fried potatoes, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon and sausage. It's absolutely unbeatably delicious and normally my first port of call after getting off the plane on my visits home to Edinburgh.

Mandy Queen, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

I'm fed up with the health police giving us advice about what (not) to eat. My husband and I, who both have very good degrees, have a fry-up most Sundays. Our BMIs are exactly right and we both feel well. We enjoy our fry-up and won't be bullied into giving it up.

PX, Berlin,

Maybe M&S could develop fine ingredients for the perfect English fry-up. "This is not just breakfast, this is an M&S breakfast."

Giles, you're being a party-pooper. The odd fry-up is a delicious treat and you should in no way be calling for its demise. The country would revolt. Brits around the world would be calling for your neck. Tourists would be shaking their fists in fury at the prospect of being deprived of eating enough Britishness to last them through to supper.

Moderation, Giles, is the key. No one likes a fanatic...

Sarah Hague, Montpellier, France

Blasphemy!!!

Jonathan Perree, St. Saviour, Jersey

I know a lardy brekkie is bad for me. So what? I love it. While i'm at it, pass me my fags and gin.....

Stuart, Sheffield, UK

English breakfast? The most pleasant form of suicide?

San Ying, Montreal, Canada QC

Finally someone had the balls to say it. Congratulations Mr Coren. The 'full English' breakfast is crap. If anyone feels like eating something like that in the morning, they have serious problems: they are obviously a 'morning person' - the most dull people in the world.

If you're going to eat anything in the morning - make it healthy. Banana, yoghurt, muesli, anything that isn't going to leave you feeling heavy and bloated for the rest of the day.

Adam, Lancaster, UK

Reading this article actually made me want to spew.

I'm not a health freak but the idea of eating all that fried food for breakfast -except in the event that one, god forbid, has had more than 3 glasses (units haha) the night before.

Seriously, it would feel like some kind of torture.

Kaione, wolverhampton, west midlands

everything in moderation, even moderation. A fry up once a while wont kill you... how the hell else can you cure a proper hangover?

phil mann, newcastle upon tyne, UK

As an expat I cannot get English bacon or sausage but I do know the British pig farmers are suffering due to supermarket pricing so why not spend Sunday morning at the farmers market if you have access to one, getting good quality sausage, bacon and eggs and go home and cook it, then you have good food and you are supporting your local economy not the multi million pound supermarket industry. Plus you can burn off calories walking round the market so you can put that slice of fried bread cooked in bacon grease on your plate too.

lynn, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Jim's Cafe, New Eltham, London, SE9 has the best breakfast

Large Set for Â£4.50 is fantastic.

mark, Falconwood,

'Go to work on an egg' - they're full of high quality protein, vitamins, minerals etc and on top of a thick piece of multi-grain toast, just perfect to start the day.

Cirep G Nol, London,

1st from Oxford. Like a fry up every fornight or so. Also run marathons. Bet I outlast you Mr Coren.

Mike, London, UK

Lincoln Towers of Antwerp, Belgium,

You say exactly what I want to say but in a more succinct fashion.

With freedom comes responsibility and those fatties with all manner of diseases (heart, liver, etc) only have themselves to blame, it's just a shame that, while i'm a vegetarian health freak, my taxes have to go towards their healthcare!

kim, london,

"You never see a person with a degree eating a fry-up, do you? Certainly not someone with a 2:1 or better in a humanities subject from a university founded before the invention of the iPod. That's because they are smart enough to know better." I think many a quality graduate would disagree with you there...

Carlton Whitfield, London,

Grill the bacon and sausages that have come from locally produced, happy pigs, fry the tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs in a small helping of olive oil, toast the wholemeal bread and cover with a light helping of butter and cook the baked beans in a pan. There you have a healthier, balanced fried breakfast. Complete a with a glass of OJ and you have the breakfast of champions!

Tommy, CHELTENHAM,

I do enjoy the old humanities degree is a waste thing. I work for an international consultancy, have no student debts left and make twice the salary of my cousin who is researching in a science lab. Of course "success" is a fluid term but Coren is a writer, hardly head of the UN, get over yourself.....

Jane Porter , London ,

Hmmmmmm Full English! You can't beat it on a Sunday morning after a night on the lash. It's one of life's most pleasurable experiences.

It's probably a killer too, but only if you do it every day for 40 years. Honestly, as my Grandad used to say, "a little of what you fancy does you good". He died 3 years ago at a rather spritely 94.

Robin Laundon, London, UK

Too much of anyting will kill you.
Yes, too much greasy food, but also:
Too much work
Too much rest
Too much pizza
Too much organically grown greens
Too much speed
Too much aggression
Too much alcohol

Moderation in all things, where a balanced diet is part of a balanced lifestyle. Boring, but we live to tell the tale!

Mike Stoneham, Worthing, West Sussex

No, he's right.
My partner has a 2:1 and she just ate muesli with bits of pomegranate, whereas I got a 2:2 and had a massive fry-up.

Ashley Meredith, Granada, Spain

After all the nonsense of the last century, I imagined all the people who took to expressing strong views on what folk should look like and how they should die were leading retiring lives in South America. Am I wrong, or has Mr Coren been enjoying some Bolivian hospitality?

Eric, London,

Just wait a week and a new group of "experts" will be telling us that a daily fry-up is essential for good health and longevity.

Alan, Edinburgh,

Mr Coren should read "The Diet Delusion" by Gary Taubes, which - carefully reviewing a great number of medical studies - strongly suggests that fat in food is not in fact the culprit in obesity, but that the huge amount of carbohydrate, and carbohydrate-with-fat in the modern western diet - a recent development - is much more problematic.
This appears counterintuitive, and goes against the [unsupported] prevailing view, but take a good look.
Tuck some science behind your prejudices.

CP, London, UK

The oil crisis will bring back real work. They'll be fitting peddles to forklift trucks soon - have you not heard?

kevin, Lincoln, UK

Strangely enough I've been researching healthy eating since being diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. The GL diet, as promoted by Patrick Holford and Antony Worrall Thompson, recommends a full English breakfast as being a healthy option, provided no additional fat is used. So no hash browns (an American invention anyway) and no fried bread: toast, particularly wholemeal or seeded, should be used to mop up the runny egg and tomato juice!

Chris, Rugby, UK

Today I had porridge. Tomorrow (Friday treat) will be a bacon and sausage sarnie.

Is that the best of both worlds, or the worst?

Either way, I'm not struggling to raise my arms off the desk to type this, and I manage to walk to the car park each day without breaking down in a hyperventilating sweaty mess.

Seems alright to me then.

John Tee-Rhodes, Manchester,

In my opinion, it's not so much a matter of lack of education as a cultural thing. I'm an international medical student and I wouldn't touch an English breakfast with a bargepole because where I come from fry-ups equate to heart disease on a plate. I lived in catered halls in my first year at uni and most of my British counterparts thought nothing of having a fry-up every single morning, because it's the norm over here.

Aria, Newcastle upon Tyne,

I think you'll find that many of the people with the 2:1 in humanities are probably serving the breakfasts... Would you like fries with that? Should have done a science degree, at least then they'd have a useful skill.

MJ, Brighton, UK

So, all the commenters here doesn't understand the point of this story?
Point is that no-one who's not doing physical work shouldn't eat fry-up EVERY DAY.
Here people are saying that they have English breakfast 3-4 times a month/year? Good for you! But don't expect any good news regarding those overweight truckers......

Jack, Latvia,

I have two degrees, and regularly eat fry-ups when I'm out cycling, then go and burn off the calories. If more people got off their fat behinds and used a bike to get around rather than driving everywhere, they could stop paying for diets and gym memberships, eat what they like and still be healthy and look good!

Ben Garside, Loughborough, Leics

Whatever happened to breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper? That way you're not going to bed on a full stomach, with all the drawbacks that has.

Buy a fry-up from a greasy spoon and of course they're going to be using the cheapest ingredients they can find. Cook a proper breakfast with good quality food and it's a healthy meal which will usually see you right through the day without the need for lunch at all.

Bill, Ramsey, UK

The whole argument was summed quite early in the article. If you eat lots of calories, then you need to burn lots of calories.
So the whole gist of this article is wrong when he says fried breakfasts are killer. NO! Lack of burning the calories off is the killer!
Oh, and by the way, do you realise 100% of all people that breathe, actually die. Therefore the most common cause of death is actually being alive!

Pete, St Albans, England

People without degrees are stupid?

Giorgia, Milan, Italy,

When I was in my early 20s, a long long time ago, I took the trouble to learn a little about nutrition. This involved reading half a dozen books and then occasional magazine articles to keep up to date. Everything Giles Coren says in this article was in those books, and it is basic Nutrition 101. But why do we need a highly-paid Times columnist to tell us these things, which should be common knowledge for every school child? Coren's political suggestions are, of course, a different matter. As someone who has great difficulty getting under 18 stone despite eating nothing but a bowl of porridge for breakfast (and walking 7 miles every morning as well), I think his advice is grossly simplistic and slightly malicious.

Tom Welsh, Basingstoke,

Trimmed bacon? Poached eggs? whole wheat toast? what the hell are you talking about? why does the full English need to be healthy? You wouldn't buy a Ferrari and then replace the engine with a hybrid alternative.
This country is obsessed with healthy options and it is driving me insane!! For a good number of people the English breakfast is a treat, so if your going to treat yourself why not do it properly (unless you prefer the poached eggs and fatless bacon)? Why make yourself feel guilty for treating yourself? Come one! what's wrong with you?
Its not rocket science! If you eat fatty food everyday then of course your going to put on a few pound. Substituting your usual pot of bio-natural, tofu dolphin friendly yoghurt with one round of organic wheat germ toast with a dab of honey for a delicious greasy full English isn't going to do you any harm, but you still riddle yourself with guilt and then not eat for the rest of the day! Its crazy!

Steve Williamson, Manchester, UK

I'm studying at University at the moment, and funnily enough we are all provided with a fried breakfast every morning.

Amy, Canterbury,

I was so delighted by Coren's prose I let my fry-up cool down.

Kevin Straw, Leciester,

Maybe because someone with a 2:1 in humanities these days would be out of work....

PhD in chemistry, eat a fry up every now and then

Current Chemist, huntingdon,

Why do people resent being given accurate health advice ?

People want the right to smoke and demand freedom to choose. But what about smokers who fall ill with the horrible diseases they were warned about? Do they say to themselves 'Why didn't I listen? Why was I so bloody cocky?'. Do they hell, they go straight to a lawyer to see if they can sue the tobacco companies.

Yes you have the right to eat a cooked breakfast every morning; yes you have the right to be grossly overweight and unhealthy and probably impotent and certainly sexually undesirable. You have the choice to get diabetes and heart problems. You have the choice to have an unhealthy middle age and maybe not survive into old age. And you can sing 'non, je ne regrette rien' or 'I did it my way' and stick two finger up to those who warned you what would happen and who were right. Congratulations.

You cannot demand choice and abdicate responsibility for your choices. That is the 21st century's British disease.

Lincoln Towers, Antwerp, Belgium

Actually, I have a 2:1 from Swansea University and quite often eat a full-fried with great pleasure. Mind you, I'm not stupid enough to smoke tabs.

Howard Gethin, Moscow, Russia

As in everything, moderation is the key. I don't have "The full Monty" in the week, but on a Sunday, with quality ingredients, and a good cuppa- Bliss.Good point about our sedentry lifestyles though, but even so, man cannot live by bread ( or porridge in this case) alone.

Alan, Stoke-on -Trent, UK

Well I think it's obvious from the comments below that everyone agrees that Fry Ups are for plebs.

Next week, "Only school drop outs eat chocolate"

Jamie, Halifax, West Yorkshire

This is quite wrong Mr Coren, porridge is likely actually to be less healthy than a 'fry up' - the right one of course.

Hydrated oats turn into sugar very quickly in the gut, within seconds, which can be demonstrated by putting a pinch of the correct enzymes into a bowl of porridge. These enzymes are found in the gut (amylase). Stir the porridge and watch as it becomes liquid sugar in front of your eyes. This sugar is rapidly absorbed by the gut into the bloodstream and turned into fat.

On the other hand protein and fat are much more difficult for the human to digest, meaning that the process is very slow. I understand that fat takes about 24 hours to be absorbed (I won't go into the details but its a complex process to get fat from the gut to the bloodstream).

Nitrates accepted are bad - Why is nitrate free bacon not available? A friend makes it and it tastes fine, no different.

However watch the type of fat you use and you have a perfectly healthy meal.

Pete, London, UK

Salty, watery porridge for breakfast? Yeukk! it will just feel like you've lived longer.

Paul, London,

If you're eating fried tesco value sausages and bacon with fried bread, fried eggs and baked beans then yes, it is going to be unhelathy. However, top quality sausages don't have a huge amount of fat, neither does good quality, trimmed bacon. Combined with poached eggs, whole wheat toast and some grilled tomato's it's actually reasonably helathy. Is the author having trouble finding something genuinely interesting to write about? Me thinks so. Time for a change of career possibly?

mal m, the ford, slurrey

Recent scientific studies have proven beyond doubt that the least healthy things to eat in the UK today for breakfast are, in this order - oats, rye bread, fruit such as strawberries and rasberries, all breakfast cereals and anything recommended by the quality newspapers and Waitrose and Sainsbury's.

Chris Stuart, Carentan, France

1st Class Humanities degree (year 2000): still enjoy an occasional fry-up. Still managing to be tall, slim and training for my first 10K.

Eat porridge most mornings though - quickier to make!

KJ, Edinburgh,

Andrew wrote...

"Sadly, they are only as good as the stuff they are made of. Soggy bacon oozing brine, plastic bread and tinned tomatoes are no good at all..."

No truer words were ever spoken. Nothing wrong with a good fry-up every now and then, or more often if you lead a very active lifestyle.

Former Chemist

PS - One master's degree (Chemistry) down and one in another subject entirely on the go.

Former Chemist, Cambridge,

Exceeedingly hypocritical of Giles (our favourite columnist even so). The restaurants he frequents will get a chicken breast (fattened for greater flavour), marinade it in fat, fry it in fat, bake it with fat while periodically basting it with fat, and serve it with vegetables covered in fat, potatoes cooked in fat with cheese topping, and cover the whole lot in a sauce made from eggs mixed with clarified butter (ie fatty milk with the non-fatty bits skimmed off to make condensed fat). While waiting for this dish he will consume bread covered in fat and some foie gras on toast (a fatty liver stuffed with food to make more fat).
He has also been a smoker for 25 years.
Makes a drop of bacon seem rather reasonable.
PS. I had a wonderful fried breakfast at Smith's of Smithfield this morning, and I have a BA Hons, First Class in a humanities subject from Giles' very own university.

Matthew Morgan, London, UK

I have a 2:1 from Durham (founded well before the iPod), an MA with distinction from Leeds and am presently writing up my PhD thesis, so hopefully even in this age of dumbed-down education that makes me reasonably bright. And I absolutely love my fry-ups. Come off it Times, stop being such snobs!

Helen F, Bristol, UK

Pop into any Oxford College of a morning, and you'll see a host of rowers, readers, or just hungry students (no-one 'fiddling their disability benefit' though, sorry to meet your class stereotype) tucking into a plate full of the stuff. If you want a rant you ought to be writing for a tabloid.

PR, Oxford,

Yet another 'I'm better than them' article.

Yawn

John, London,

Dear Mr Coren,

My two academic colleagues and I (who may have have slightly more than the 2:1 honours degree you mention), hugely enjoyed our fried breakfasts with all the trimmings in the student union building at Hull University this morning. The only difficulty we experienced was working our way through the mass of eager students awaiting their own 'unhealthy' meals.

'pud', Hull, Yorkshire

A grilled version of the breakfast with fresh tomatoes is supposed to be less calories than a latte and highly sugared muffin from the big coffee chains. I know which I prefer, with a decent pot of tea.

RobD, Bracknell, UK

English (or Scottish, Welsh or Irish) full breakfasts are the best way to start an active day, without a doubt. Sadly, they are only as good as the stuff they are made of. Soggy bacon oozing brine, plastic bread and tinned tomatoes are no good at all; and microwaves should be banned from all cooking purposes except heating up.

Andrew Lowe Watson, Ridlington, Norfolk

"Porridge, water, a little salt" - meh

The life police don't want me to drink, smoke or eat fried foods. I want my life back. it's mine after all and I should be allowed to live it as I please.

I have a 2:1 and a Masters by the way. Now pass me the fried bread (and it better be fried in Lard not olive oil!)

Singo, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

Usual nonsense from Coren. Ross is the man. I love a fry up. Ross is right that good quality ingedients make it. I use Duchy of Cornwall bacon and Porkinson's bangers. Oh, by the way, I have a 2.1 in history from Cambridge.

Mike, Reading,

When I was in my twenties and working on a farm bagging wheat for nine hours on the hottest of days, we had the full English fry up every morning and then we had another cooked lunch and very much later a dinner which often came at 10 at night when we stopped heading the wheat or barley. Guys who do physical labour today; the loggers, the shearers and those who hump up weights like garbage sacks into a truck need their fry ups.

As a reminder how good it all tastes we as a family have black pudding and bacon with apple fritters about once every six weeks and it's just great.

Theo Wilms, New Plymouth, New Zealand

I disagree completely with your article but I enjoyed reading it a lot. The reason why I disagree is because as you said we are no longer factory man or farmers and we do live a sedative life but that does not mean that we do not need fat. On the internet one can find various studies that reckon that a British breakfast without sugars and carbs is one of the healthiest breakfasts that one can have. The most evil thing that a human body that is sedative can intake is refined carbs. I can vow on the benefits of living a low carb lifestyle because low carb, high fat and protein helped me shed 110 kilos which I gained because I was eating what most people believe is healthy food (horse food, like oats, porridge and cereals)(Yes I use to weigh 235kilos). Nowadays I feel much healthier and funnily enough my cholesterol levels are the best I ever had in 10 years.

Charles, G'Mangia, Malta

A complete load of black puddings, Mr Coren.

I live in France and introduced my neighbours to the "Full English" about 12 years ago. We get together about 3 or 4 times a year and have a great time.

I can find all the ingredients at my local supermarket except for decent pork sausages. The French have far more varieties of sausage than we do but none of them are suitable for a fry-up, so I get the bangers from England.

You are most welcome to join us for our next event, probably early June.

Stephen Nelson, Le Mesnil-le-Roi, France

Martin's in Cambridge? I've never spotted many people in there. Packed out regulary are the Rainbow Cafe (delicious yet vegetarian food, just off King's Parade), Trockel Ullman & Freunde (homemade soup and German cake, mostly a university crowd) on Pembroke St, Clown's Cafe (homey good Italian food, fantastic hot chocolate, entertaining owners) 54 King's Street, Savino's (best coffee, again Italian, paninis, salads) near the bus stop opposite Emmanuel.

Much better! And funnily enough not a full english breakfast in sight...

Em, Cambridge, UK

"I'll tell you what's holding us back from finally getting rid of the fried English breakfast for ever: lack of education. You never see a person with a degree eating a fry-up, do you? Certainly not someone with a 2:1 or better in a humanities subject from a university founded before the invention of the iPod. That's because they are smart enough to know better."

Come visit the buttery of St. John's College, Cambridge at lunchtime on Saturdays. The queue for fry-ups goes out of the door.

Ella Belsham, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Love that comment! Last year 4 people ate a fry up every sunday, including Lorne, Black Pudding and the usual components. Two of these people had a BSc in Chemistry and the other two were in final year of MChem degree in Chemistry. We were well aware of what we were eating and loved it even more! Is not going to kill you unless you eat exclusively deep fried food 24/7...Honestly.

Rebecca Comley, Tunbridge Wells, Kent

does this guy ask everybody he sees eating a fry up if they have a 2:1 in a humanities subject from a university created before the invention of an iPod?

if not how does he know

andy, Preston, England

I don't like this middle-brow science you have reverted to Mr Coren. I expect better from you. I think you should lay no hand on desserts when you put on the critic's hat and enter restaurants in case your liver falls asleep too.

Saki B, London,

Eat well, exercise right, take vitamins...and you still die at the end of it all.
There's no purpose to life so enjoy the one way trip.

Jerry Fisher, Edinburgh,

How about fried porridge?

John Lawrence, London, U K

I agree a fat tax is the way forward, negative externalities are taxed in nearly every other market. It has certain equity arguments. Those on low incomes tend to argue that they cannot afford fresh, low fat food. Why can't we use the revenue from the 'fat tax' and subsidise fruit and veg.

Ian, St Andrews, Scotland

You should try fried "clutty dumpling" - that will stick to your ribs.

Heny GB, Brampton, Cumbria

you *never* see somone with a 2:1 or above eating a fry up.

oh come on.......

just a slight exageration maybe? surley there must be a 2:1 honors graduate *somewhere* who has eaten a fryup since donning their cape and mortar board.

oh hang on..... i have one (which yes i got before IPODs in the days when they were quite difficult)....... and , once in a blue moon, i have a good fry up (sans saussion).

oh but wait...... note the carefully chosen clause - a *humanities* degree.

Obviously those of us with honours degrees in electronic engineering are clearly not a patch intellectually on humaities graduates. (and clearly medicine degrees don't count)

hence, why my 5'6 frame struggles to bear the 9 stone i lug around as a result of my one fryup a month.

Its a shame that a sensible point (not eating them as an everyday food) is buried under hyperbola and intellectual snobbery.

andy, Preston, England

Mr. Coren is patently incorrect. I was introduced to the joys of a full English breakfast by three First-class and one Upper Second-class degree holders from Oxford. A great way to enjoy the morning (or cure oneself after too much port the night before) and if a sample is needed, simply check the cafes of Oxford on the weekend - they're packed with students and dons enjoying a good fry-up!

Katherine, Richmond, UK

Three cheers for Ross Anderson! At last an eloquent and sensible defence of the classic Full English Breakfast.

Forget the stuff you get abroad, that is but a feeble imitation. Similarly the Little Chef offerings, which - and I will reluctantly grant Coren this point - are mere posturing with inadequate ingredients.

There is absolutely nothing to touch the Full English first thing on a Saturday morning (or Sunday, if your pub night is Saturday). And it IS a hangover cure - provided you wash it down with the regulation 2 large mugs of sugary tea. And quite honestly, I don't think I've ever heard my bile duct complaining in the morning. The wife, yes, but that's another story...

So Mr Coren, take your overly pompous bah-humbug elsewhere, please, as you tuck into your gruel (porridge), no doubt made with organic free-range bottled water and tiny sprinkling of fairtrade salt.

Ade, CÃ¡diz, Spain

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You never see anyone with a degree eating a fry-up; they're too intelligent to consume it, says Times restaurant critic

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