I still find it fascinating travelling to the US how many little choices you have to make at most meals. In the UK and Europe choice comes from the vastly different menu options of one restaurant to another – in the US, choice seems to be dictated by how many variations of the same meal you can order at a place. You see it frequently when Americans visit and want one thing substituted for something else, or perhaps an additional thing on the side.

Take a standard breakfast in America. Most places in the UK would just list the specific items on the menu. In the US, those choices are up to you.

Sometimes it’s a good thing but at many other times I found all I want to do is order food and get back to conversations with people at the table instead of the endless choice of how I want my potatoes, or which sauce I want with a steak or a burger, with my idea being that the chef preparing the menu should know what’s best.