The man who created the world's biggest scotch egg has said he doesn't reckon ordinary-sized versions of the popular snack constitute a 'substantial meal' - and, let's be honest, he would know.
Jon Fell, from Egremont in Cumbria, made a massive scotch egg, weighing 1st 7lb and measuring 18 inches in diameter.
Incredible.
Fell used an ostrich egg flown all the way form Mexico as well as one-and-a-half stone of sausage meat, five loaves and two litres of milk.
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It took Fell, 48, a whopping eight hours to create and fed 70 people.
However, despite his love of the meaty treats, he doesn't think your bog-standard scotch egg constitutes a substantial meal and says the hospitality industry needs to be given precise information in terms of what they can provide punters alongside a pint.
He said: "It's no secret that I love a good scotch egg. As to whether I think they can be classified as a substantial meal? If they're as big as our 11.2kg Goliath, then yes.
"But, I don't think so really.
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"If I'm being honest, I'm really feeling for many in the industry at this moment in time and it saddens me to say I think it'll get a whole lot worse before things get better.
"There needs to be better clarity and precise information, so that we, the hospitality industry can get back to what we do best, hospitality."
People have been locked in debate over whether or not a scotch egg would count as a 'substantial meal' as England emerges from lockdown and goes back into a tiered system after one minister claimed it would count.
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Environment Secretary George Eustice took part in an interview on LBC radio, in which he claimed that what is considered a 'substantial meal' is 'understood very much by the restaurant trade'.
He said: "I think a scotch egg probably would count as a substantial meal if there were table service and often that might be as a starter.
"But yes, I think it would."
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He added: "But this is a term that is understood in licensing since you can have the concept of a table licence for alcohol that also requires you to serve a substantial meal."
Under the new tiered system, those in Tier 2 can only be served alcohol if they're eating and the rules state it must be a 'substantial meal', meaning you can't just order a bowl of chips and nine pints and three Jägerbombs (sorry).
Featured Image Credit: Jon FellTopics: Food, UK News, Weird, Politics