It is true, English bacon is different from American bacon. American bacon is pork belly, while English bacon is from the back of the pig. American bacon is usually quite thin, and the English bacon I've eaten was always a bit thicker. I believe English bacon is known as "Canadian Bacon" in the US.
I like both. American bacon is easier to find here in Germany (and I'd even say most of continental Europe), both in shops and in restaurants. Much to my dismay you rarely find English breakfast in restaurants that offer different types of breakfast (like in the ICE trains, or larger hotels.). The only thing you find is Continental breakfast (though that is a *very* broadly defined term, as what people eat for breakfast varies widely from country to country. French people eat more sweet stuff, for example, like jams, while in Germany you have both sweet and salty, with a stronger tendency to salty stuff like cheese and sausage. The other option you usuallly get is "International Breakfast", which I have the impression can be just about anything.
The best selection of what type of breakfast to choose I found in Shanghai. In the normal breakfast room, they had a buffet with things for breakfast for any taste. Any type of Asian breakfast, International, American, and more.
But what you'll really rarely find is "English Breakfast" being offered. In the park near my university in Darmstadt there is a restaurant, where you can eat breakfast too. It's really lovely, especially in the summer (I am not sure they're open in the winter), as you are in the middle of the park, and can sit outside. I once ate breakfast there while waiting for my files to be processed in the application room (it's always fun to apply at a university for me...not. Because I have an International graduation, yet am still a German citizen, I usually always am sent in between the normal application office and the international if there is one, several times. On that day I had finally got my documents to one of the offices, and they were working on it and said I should stay in the area until they're finished. I gave them my mobile phone number, and ventured out.), and was delighted to see they actually had English breakfast, so I ordered some.
It wasn't perfect. It was as close as you can get while not in the UK, I guess, and I was happy. The bacon was the american type, as like I said, it's hard to find the other type in shops here in Germany (though I guess it shouldn't be to hard to get some from a butcher. But I guess since English breakfast isn't asked for that often, and the packaged bacon keeps longer, it's just not feasible for a restaurant to get the English kind from there.), and there were no beans or something like that (which was alright with me, as I don't really like the beans all that much.). There were some good sausages, and the egg was absolutely delicious.
But that was the only time I really found an English breakfast on offer anywhere outside of the UK. The reason is probably because few people ask for it in the first place, and I think the reason for *that* is that it's generally considered to be a very heavy, and possibly fatty type of breakfast, and thus just isn't popular if you aren't used to it. It definitely is more heavy than what you usually find. But what you find in hotels is also often much lighter than the normal breakfast a German would eat, which is kind of stupid. I was very happy while in England, because I really enjoyed breakfast there. Usually I don't eat breakfast at all, mostly because my family never ate in the morning. We got a breakfast bread from my grandmother for eating in the first break at school, which was enough. And when we returned home, it was lunch time. But in England, I really loved the food they offered for breakfast. In hotels I only nip at my breakfast, usually, because they usually have stuff like jam and nutella, which is just not my type. I am very happy if they have some kind of cream cheese, like "Philadelphia" (It's not really cheese. In German we call it "Frischkäse", which means "Fresh Cheese".), and usually that's enough. I couldn't always eat English breakfast, but sometimes it would be really nice while in a hotel. It's definitely more to my taste than the stuff they usually have on offer in the breakfast rooms there.
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