Full English isn't English and neither is your Christmas dinner, academic claims
11 October 2022, 07:02
The full English breakfast isn’t English at all, according to a Cambridge academic.
Dr Ha-Joon Chang has picked apart the constituent components of the traditional English breakfast, arguing most of the ingredients come from overseas.
The bacon is from Denmark, the eggs could have come from anywhere, and hash browns are American, he says.
The economist, who came to Britain in the 80s from South Korea, loves a full English, but says bacon “is a result of the Danes industrialising the process of rearing pigs in the 19th century”.
“Hash browns are very American,” he adds.
“They are also, from the point of view of the restaurant, the easiest dish to cook because they're frozen and ready-made.”
He also said fish and chips isn’t a national dish, and neither is the traditional Christmas dinner.
“Fish and chips came to Britain through Sephardic Jewish people from Spain and Portugal,” he said.
Taking aim at the Christmas dinner next, he added: “The potatoes are from Peru, turkeys are from Mexico, the carrots are from Afghanistan, the brussels sprouts are from Belgium.”
Dr Chang has a book coming out titled Edible Economics, which is released on October 20.
