The biggest difference between America and Britain is breakfast

America and Britain are alike in so many ways. I’d argue that as each year passes, the United Kingdom becomes more Americanized. But there’s one thing I haven’t been able to get used to in the States even though I’ve lived here for 28 years of my life. And it has nothing to do with soccer.

It’s the American breakfast.

How can so many things in British and America culture be so similar, yet the most important meal of the day be so dramatically different? It’s left me puzzled all these years.

The bacon? Completely different. Sausages? Different. Toast? Not similar. Americans call jam, jelly. Brits call jelly, jello. And the list goes on and on.

While a British breakfast is a heart attack on a plate, filled with plump pork sausages, thick slices of bacon, fried bread, fried mushrooms, fried potatoes and baked beans, served with a cup of hot tea, an American breakfast can be quite varied in contrast. French toast, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, waffles, steak and eggs and so on. All of these American dishes are very foreign to British tastebuds, so it’s no wonder that since I’m very set in my ways, I always look like a deer caught in the headlights when I look at a breakfast menu at any American restaurant.

It gets worse when I go to a deli where there’s an ever greater assortment of strange breakfast choices such as the myriad of bagels, some served with smoked fish or lox.

The only thing I can usually order that is halfway between American and British breakfast food is an omelette, which — funnily enough — is French.

Am I the only one who enjoys American food except for breakfast? Other than making a great breakfast meal at home, have you been able to find that little bit of Britain in America?