Readers reply: why haven’t baked beans caught on outside the British Isles?

Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

Why do few people outside the British Isles share our love of tinned baked beans in tomato sauce, as popularised by Heinz? They are cheap, delicious and reasonably nutritious; I have them on toast at least twice a week. Elsewhere, they seem to be regarded as a depressing, eccentric or downright pitiable form of sustenance. Alys Rosser, Denbighshire

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Readers reply

The answer is blowing in the wind. MrCassandra

Because they’re not very nice! MW

Probably because the only exposure they get is the odd photo of some daft Brit sitting in a bath full of them. TrendyGrandad

They have, at least in Scandinavia. Tinned baked beans are a staple on supermarket shelves in Norway and Sweden, just as they are in the UK. Bob Connolly

Any of your readers that hanker after baked beans while in Greece should look for a tin of γίγαντες σε σάλτσα ντομάτες (big beans in tomato sauce) in almost all supermarkets. As the name suggests, they are larger than our beans, but equally delicious. In fact, I prefer them. DdR

I reckon it is how well our simple slices of thick or medium white bread toast. The toast is a huge part. Otherwise, it’s just beans on plate. Antony T

I am an American who studied in Belfast and quickly took to the beans and toast tradition. Back in the States, Heinz Baked Beans are only available as an import at specialty stores, at large expense, which defeats the purpose of a cheap and easy meal. The best substitute I have found is Bush’s Beans. Its website features a recipe for beans and toast and the picture says it all – to market the meal to American tastes, they use an image with thick, crispy toast and only a few beans, mostly hidden by egg, along with a recommendation of using spicy beans. Traditional beans on toast is essentially soggy bread swimming in goo. It’s a remarkably perfect meal, but one has to try it to understand its appeal. Rebekah

If you put beans on toast, the toast goes soggy and reverts to bread, therefore wasting toasting time. Beans with toast fingers on the side is the way to go! LyndaB

I lived in Ghana for a year many years ago and baked beans popped up for breakfast in many places I stayed, complete with toasted white bread. HelenB

I have beans on toast a couple of times a week; it’s a major comfort food for me and helps me face a cold morning or a long work day. In my opinion, the magic touch with beans on toast is the butter. The extremely high quality of our dairy output in Britain and Ireland might explain why countries with inferior dairy industries haven’t caught on yet. It’s creamy, it’s salty, it’s indulgent – and the smallest scraping elevates your bean-based brekky from mere fuel to tasty treat. Darragh

I take exception to the notion that baked beans are not popular outside the UK. First, Heinz is an American company that began to produce them in the latter half of the 19th century. That aside, haricots blancs à la (sauce) tomate are commonly eaten here in France and fagioli all’uccelleto is a very popular Tuscan dish. Both are found in jars or cans. My daughter, who is a Heinz connoisseur, is quite happy to have either French or Italian versions if supermarkets here don’t have any. Elsewhere, Germans appear to love them and when I lived in Norway, about three decades ago, I saw two shoppers all but coming to blows over the last time of Heinz beans on a shelf. Brian Milne

You’re kidding, right? Baked beans are ubiquitous in Canada. For instance, a “Nova Scotia Saturday night supper” consists of fishcakes, baked beans and brown bread, while French Canadians serve baked beans with a marvellous dish called sea pie. “Homestyle” restaurants always have baked beans on their menus. Although Heinz baked beans are readily available in every grocery store in the country for the kind of quick and easy meal that Alys Rosser describes, many families have their own cherished recipes and make batches regularly, particularly through the winter months. Colleen Humbert, Nova Scotia

We eat plenty of baked beans in the US, just not for breakfast. My husband has them on toast at least once a week for supper. They are a standard with a barbecue meal, but often they are spiced up with barbecue sauce. And hotdogs with a side of baked beans is also very common. I will say, though, outside a barbecue restaurant, they are not found very often on restaurant menus. Heinz beans are harder to find in the US, but there are multiple other brands. siamlily

Why haven’t croissants and French baguette for breakfast caught on in the UK? Er … some might say they have a to a certain extent, but in the UK they are soggy or taste like blotting paper. Similarly bratwurst: only to be found at the Christmas market in Manchester in the rain. Let’s keep things simple: real croissants in France, real bratwurst in Germany and real beans on toast in the British Isles, where they belong. ThegoodqueenMathilda