'Weetabix with Heinz beans?': Debate reaches UK parliament floor, MPs describe preference

A whole-grain wheat breakfast cereal, Weetabix and how it should be eaten has now reached the House of Commons floor in Britain. Just days after the official Twitter account of Weetabix shared pictures of Heinz baked beans slathered over two of its cereal biscuits and the post took the internet by storm, both UK and US embassies were forced to get into the controversial food pairing.

Conservative MP for Kettering, Philip Hollobone, called for a debate on the same issue in the UK parliament and termed it ‘more divisive than Brexit’. The Kettering MP said, “One of the debates that has been dividing the nation this week, perhaps even more divisive than Brexit, is whether having Weetabix with baked beans is an attractive serving suggestion for a healthy meal.

“Now, we all need a little light relief in these difficult times, so may we have a debate on breakfast cereals and their contribution to a healthy diet so that we can all arrive at the shared position that with whatever it is served, Weetabix is a great British breakfast cereal fully worthy of promotion?” he added.

However, responding to Hollobone’s calls, Jacob Rees-Mogg noted that if he were to eat Weetabix, it would not be with baked beans and he went on to term the combination “disgusting”. Rees-Mogg said, “As they used to say ‘Weetabix are unbeatabix’. My personal preference if I were to eat Weetabix, is not with baked beans – which I’ve always thought are absolutely disgusting."

"There was an advert, well, I’m sorry if I’ve upset the makers of baked beans, there was a saying which is desperately politically incorrect nowadays – so I hope [shadow Commons leader Valerie Vaz] will forgive me – their advertising slogan: ‘A million housewives every day pick up a can of beans and say Beanz Meanz Heinz," he added.

“But when I was a child this was corrupted to: ’A million housewives every day pick up a can of beans and say: ‘Yuck, throw them away.’ I’m sorry – that has always been my view of baked beans. Though for preference for breakfast, Mr Speaker, you’ll know what I like – it’s nanny’s homemade marmalade on toast,” he concluded. The clip of House of Commons session was also shared by Weetabox saying the company ‘agrees’.

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Weetabix suggests ‘weird’ combo with beans

 Since the Weetabix and Heinz beans post on February 9, the company has been criticised for sharing an unusual serving suggestion for its breakfast cereal. The tweet garnered the attention of several other brands like YouTube, KFC, NHS, Tinder and even the United States Embassy in London. The US Embassy tweeted that the pairing was not the US-UK "collaboration we were hoping for". The British Embassy came up with a witty reply and said, "Strong opinion from the nation that makes tea in a microwave."

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