Campaigners say hash browns don't belong in an English breakfast - are they right?

By Lottie Kilraine, Multimedia Producer

They say it is the most important meal of the day, but a fierce debate is underway over whether hash browns should be banned from a traditional English breakfast.

It may be consumed less regularly than at its peak in the 1950s, but the full English breakfast is still a highly popular dish with 83% of English people surveyed by YouGov saying they like it.

However, a campaign group is now calling for hash browns to be blacklisted from the signature morning meal, in a bid to restore a "tastier and more authentically British" potato option.

The English Breakfast Society - which is dedicated to the history, heritage, and culture of the English breakfast - is calling for brits to 'bring back' the more traditional bubble and squeak.

Bubble and Squeak, once a staple part of the traditional fry-up, dates back to the 18th century and is made from cooked potatoes and cabbage mixed together and fried.

But the English Breakfast Society have got some convincing to do as 60% of people say hash browns would feature on their 'ideal' full English, YouGov has revealed.

The survey identifies the core ingredients in a decent full English, with six food items identified by more than half of people as being essential to their ideal breakfast.

According to the research, the single most important part of a full English breakfast is bacon, with 89% of English people saying it would feature on their perfect plate.

As well as bacon, these include sausage (82%), toast (73%), beans (71%), fried egg (65%) and hash browns (60%).

Undeterred by this, the English Breakfast Society - who go by @FryUpSociety on Twitter - have launched an online campaign using the hashtag #BringBackTheBubble.

They tweeted: "The Hash Brown Army may outnumber us, but we fight for a just cause, to give the people of our Kingdom bubble & squeak, a tastier, and more authentically British potato cake.

"Join us in our quest to restore the authenticity of our English breakfast tradition."

“Somebody had to put their foot down,” Guise Bule de Missenden, founder of the English Breakfast Society, told the Times.

“Otherwise we’ll find kebab meat in our English breakfast before long. We’re all about bringing back the bubble."

However, the hash brown is not the only food dividing opinions.

Men and women appear to have somewhat different tastes when it comes to their ideal full English.

Men tend to like the less healthy options more than women, and vice versa, YouGov found.

Generally speaking, when compared to women, men were more likely to prefer any breakfast components that begin with the word “fried” (bread, egg, tomato, mushrooms) as well as baked beans.

Women, by contrast, tend to like items beginning with the word “grilled” (mushroom, tomato) and poached eggs more than men do.

But the breakfast item that is the most divisive of all, rather unsurprisingly, is black pudding.

The controversial food - which famously includes blood as one of its main ingredients - would feature in 47% of men’s ideal full English breakfasts, compared to just 24% of women's.

Meanwhile, the differences between the generations is also noticeable.

England’s younger people (those aged 18-24) are far more likely to prefer scrambled eggs than their elders (and to a lesser extent boiled eggs) and are less likely to want fried egg.

Mushrooms become a less popular choice the younger people are, as does black pudding, and bacon is less popular among 18-34 year olds than with those aged 35 and over.

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