Naan – India

Muffin – England

Not to be confused with the sweet cupcake-style muffin (blueberry or chocolate? Or both?!) an English muffin is a small, round, flat, leavened bread and usually sliced, toasted and buttered for breakfast.

The word muffin is thought to come from the old German word muffen, meaning “little cakes” and in the UK, North America and Australia they are eaten with sweet or savoury toppings and are a key part of an Eggs Benedict and McDonald’s ever popular McMuffin (hold the cheese, thanks).

The traditional English nursery rhyme The Muffin Man dates from the early 19th century when muffins were sold door to door before most homes had their own ovens.

Best place to try: Warburtons of Bolton have been baking them since 2010 and sell seven million packs in the UK annually. So they’re probably worth a shot.

This favourite curry accompaniment is believed to have originated in India more than around 2,500 years ago when yeast from Egypt arrived with traders and leavened bread was produced in a tandoor.

But the word “naan”, or variant of it, did not reach these shores until the early 19th century, in a travelogue by London writer and historian William Tooke.

How to have your naan? Plain, garlic, butter, paneer, chilli, onion, coriander, stuffed, Peshwari? Maybe not all at once though.

Best place to try: obviously home made in India is ideal but for value try the curry houses in Birmingham’s Balti Triangle or East London’s Brick Lane. Feeling flush? Veeraswamy on Regent Street in London’s West End is the nation’s oldest Indian restaurant (it dates from 1926) and gets excellent reviews.