I have lived in London for nearly four years and one of the things I miss most about Australia is breakfast. In Sydney, where I am from, we have a real café culture and it is very common to go out for breakfast, or brunch if you prefer, on the weekends. Most will serve breakfast until at least midday and a good number do all day breakfast because it’s so popular. I have seen this in Melbourne and Brisbane as well and I’m sure it’s equally true in other Australian cities.

London does have a few cafés doing a decent-enough breakfast, such as Boiled Egg and Soldiers cafe in Clapham Junction or La Brioche in West Hampstead and of course there is also posh breakfast such as at the Wolseley on Piccadilly but it is not the cultural institution that it is in Australia. Most breakfasts seem to be on the level of fry-ups in greasy spoon caffs (the UK equivalent of the American diner) or the institution B&B breakfast. Whereas Australia has taken the blueprint of the English breakfast and turned it into an art form, either because it’s just very, very well done with lovely fresh ingredients, or because it has a modern twist, such as haloumi in the omelette. And don’t forget the coffee - Australians learnt how to make coffee from our Italian immigrants in the 1960s and we tend to take it very seriously. The Brits drink a lot of coffee but Starbucks is about as good as it gets; they are far more serious about tea.

So who around the world makes the best breakfast? Is it the Australians? Is it the English, after all, or perhaps one of their Celtic neighbours? Perhaps it’s the Americans, the Norwegians, the Italians, or even the Israelis? In an attempt to settle this question I am hosting the Global Breakfast Tournament. Each country will have a champion who will cook a classic breakfast dish from their country and write a guest entry on this site, complete with recipes and a photo. The prize is a £10 Amazon voucher and since I am hideously biased, the winner will be voted on by you, the readers.

I have champions from some countries already but if you are interested to take part, please leave a comment below, and I will be in touch.