By the 1950s, the English Breakfast Society writes, “roughly half of the British population began their day by eating the same English breakfast we would eat today.” Released from its upper class origins, the so-called common English breakfast soon became a favorite among laborers, and began appearing in the homes of the middle and working classes. And perhaps more importantly, this era also solidified the staple ingredients of the English breakfast: “bacon, eggs, sausage, black pudding, baked beans, grilled tomato, fried bread, and toast,” per the English Breakfast Society. According to the English Breakfast Society, which is based in Hertford, England, the Victorians elevated the English breakfast to an “art form,” organizing “elegant and refined” social events centered on breakfast that “demonstrate your wealth, good taste and social upbringing.”īy the time the Edwardian age began in 1901, English breakfasts began appearing on menus in hotels and restaurants, signifying its growing popularity and widespread appeal. At their grand houses in the country, the gentry ate a full English breakfast before hunting, and proudly offered the hearty meal to guests who traveled long distances to visit - a tradition that extended to both the Georgian and Victorian eras.īy the time the Victorian era arrived, the gentry had been replaced by a new class of wealthy merchants, industrialists, and businessmen - England’s aristocracy. Their embrace of the English breakfast signaled that it was an essential element of an authentic English lifestyle. This might all sound like dense and unnecessary history, but it’s actually quite important because the gentry considered themselves the stewards of original English culture. These country-dwelling aristocrats considered themselves the cultural inheritors of Anglo-Saxons - the group of Germanic people who, up until the Norman Conquest in 1066 when the French essentially took over, ruled the British Isles. To understand how the English breakfast became so entrenched in English society, you have to travel back to the 13th century and the rise of a social class called the gentry. Affectionately known as a fry-up in England, the English breakfast is what food writer Ellen Castelow called a “national institution” in a story for Historic UK - one that’s intertwined with the country’s political and economic history.
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