Word of Mouth blogFood

New York embraces the full English breakfast

The city which lays claim to being the breakfast capital of the world is finally waking up to the oleaginous joys of the full English

According to New York Magazine the full English breakfast is taking their city by storm. The great British fry-up, fuel of wiry miners, noble shipyard riveters, clear eyed young Spitfire pilots and cheeky cock-er-ney cabbies has crossed the pond and, according to the article colonised "not only at Brit-owned hotel restaurants (Crosby Bar, Le Caprice) but also at British-themed restaurants at American hotels (the Breslin)".

At first it seems counterintuitive that hatchet-faced masters of the universe or over-toned, oft-facelifted mavens should decide to begin their day with something so relentlessly proletarian. And then one would have to ask why, in a city of obsessive narcissists, would anyone seriously order a plate of salty pork products sweated in grease? Why not a bagel and some of the admirable smoked fish for which Manhattan is justly famed? Why not a stack of their native pancakes and glistening maple syrup? A Danish? Why not, even, America's greatest gift to the culinary world, the oversized muffin? The clue, I suspect is in the picture which accompanies the article.

There, nestling on the finest china that the Breslin can provide, are two fiercely trimmed rashers, a glistering egg, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms and a pretty authentic looking banger. Looks good. Also looks like there's not a single ounce of carbohydrate on the plate. Sure, according to the article, the breakfast is served with 'lashings of toast' but it's crucially a side dish. Where it can be conveniently turned away while the New Yorker chows into a plate of near pure protein.

Yes, food lovers, it's true. The nation that convinced itself that Bernie Madoff should be put in charge of money, that George W Bush was an acceptable choice for leader and that Gordon Ramsay was worth importing, pumping full of wrinkle-busting collagen and putting on their TVs has severed the final link with reality and managed to reposition the fry-up as a diet food.

Are New Yorkers traducing the name of our national breakfast? Can it be a fry-up without a fried slice, toast under the egg and a big plate of chips on the side?

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