I was sailing along the Nile on a fancy cruise, breakfast-time. I looked in the breadbasket, and there I saw them: bagels! On the Nile!? I knew, just knew, they couldn’t be good. And they weren’t. They were white bread made round.
Yet, there was a certain beauty, a symmetry, in me, a Jew, fressing on a bagel in the place we had once run away from in such a hurry, we couldn’t wait for the bread to rise.
I think I can understand how bagels made their way around the world. No, it wasn’t the Diaspora. Rather, I think it’s because Jews are inveterate travelers — that even when we have a home, we’re still looking to find something else, see someplace else. And we bring our taste buds with us.
I’ve been on a bagel quest since that trip to Egypt in January, and I have not been disappointed. My aim is to have a bagel in every foreign city I visit. In May, my wife, Rosalind, and I were in Japan. I was speaking on a cruise from Japan to Siberia to Alaska. After Tokyo (not a bagel in sight), we sailed to Sendai. And there, in an underground food court, we discovered — yes, I’m not making this up — Bagel & Bagel. This store had a neon sign that advertised itself as having “New York Style Bagels.”
Well, I thought, this is worth a taste — a bagel, halfway around the world. Got to have it with a schmear.
The bagels were tastefully arrayed at Bagel & Bagel. Muffins were sorted by size, as were the cookies — the Japanese love to stack and display. This green tea bagel tasted… well, did you ever have an aftertaste after chewing a bagel?
Still, my quest was continuing, and I was glad I did it, if only for the fact that I could brag to my wide-eyed friends back home. I mumbled something about the New York water, and about gluten, and hand-kneading, but the pleasant people running the place didn’t know what I was talking about.
We went back to the boat and headed for Siberia. Not a bagel in sight, unfortunately. It would have alleviated the joylessness of the Russian customs people, who stared at me, stared at my passport, then took another look at me, as if I were some guy trying to sneak into their country. Fat chance — me, becoming an ex-pat in a place without a bagel.
Finally, America. Well, Alaska. I could not see Russia from where I was in Anchorage, but our young guide took us to a typical Alaskan eatery, the Snow City Café. And there on the menu, with your eggs, you had your choice of toast — or a bagel. Jackpot!
Did I want it toasted? I was asked. “No, neat,” I replied, smartly, somewhat hip, I thought.
The bagel arrived on its own plate and looked imposing. Good-looking brownish crust. I took a bite — it was the real thing. Excitedly, I called over the waiter. He told me it was a sourdough bagel. Of course. What else would you have in this almost frontier town? “We don’t make it here,” he admitted. “It comes from the bagel bakery.” Many years ago, a friend began a bagel bakery in Minot, N.D. It never went over with the locals. But Anchorage has its own bagel bakery. Go figure.
If only I had time to get to the bagel bakery. But I did wolf down the bagel, which the café sold a la carte for $2. And here I was getting it for free, along with my eggs (I eschewed the reindeer sausage, however).
Who knows where this quest will take me next? We’ve got Corey’s bar mitzvah in London in November, and then Alexa will be having a bat mitzvah in Masada in December.
So many bagels, so little time.
Gerald Eskenazi, a retired New York Times sportswriter, lectures on the news media, pop culture and sports.
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Hey you should have had some of the reindeer sausage. Simply a guess, but from what I think I know about reindeer it could even have been kosher.
Anybody else want to weigh in on the reindeer kashrut issue??
Rick, I wrote the bagel story. My adventurousness stops with the bagel. But as far as reindeer--yes, they're inherently kosher because they have split hooves and chew their cuds. And maybe because Sarah Palin probably eats them.
We had bagels in Antigua, Guatemala (about 40 miles from the capital of Guatemala City). They were great schmeared with beans!
Too many years covering the Jets & Rangers?
The bagels in Casper, Wyoming do not deserve to be called bagels. White, puffy and practically no hole in the middle. They resemble and taste like rolls.
No bagels, but I did eat at a kosher deli in Mexico City. The meat was flowen in from Chicago.
There is (or was) a bagel shop in Tokyo called Maruichi Bagel. It was opened by a woman who had fallen in love with bagels from Ess-A-Bagel while on a US visit. She tried to replicate Ess-A-Bagel's bagels--even working as an intern one year--and I've heard that she did a good job.
When I first moved to Vermont about 25 years ago, I heard two typical old time Vermonters talking about their favorite bagels. My Grandmother wouldn't have believed it!
there is Nothing that beats a Montreal bagel-Nothing- andrew
Andrew Rosengren is absolutely right. Noting beats a Montreal bagel. The bagels in Tel Aviv are a tie with Montreal's. New York & Long Island bagels are third, but not a close third. Montreal bagels from St. Viateur bagel bakery and Fairmount bagel bakery are the best in the world.
I'll add a vote for Montreal bagels, but the best ones I ever had were in Krakow, sold on the street from glass cases by little old ladies. Thinner and with a bigger hole, no schmear (not even a plate)--but the deep, pure essence of bagelhood.
You haven't lived until you have eaten a Montreal bagel.
Having never tasted a Montreal bagel, I cannot comment, BUT having noted Larry Maler's comment that the bagels in Tel Aviv are a tie with Montreal's, I can only say that I beg to differ. You can get a roll with a hole in lots of places and Tel Aviv is one of them! I have not tasted a "real" bagel in TA in recent years. Even the bagels in Jerusalem cannot compete with the bagels in Karkur. Perhaps I am fantasizing but I remember the bagels of Brooklyn as THE real thing and everything else as runners up. Knowing the that the Canadian mentality they may still be back in yesteryear as far as bagels go. Good on them.
I have to say, after living in Siberia, Saint Petersburg, and Moscow. Russia is lacking in bagels, I believe there is one place in SP that has them, but I never found it. By the time I left Russia the only food I wanted was a good bagel.
THE only bagel is a Montreal bagel! St. Viateur or Fairmont, even the "new" Bagels Out West, nothing beats a Montreal bagel.
Come give Cohen's Bagel Company a try! www.cohensbagelcompany.com - we'd love to be put to the test! Granted, we're in the US, two hours north of NYC even, but sounds like you people know your stuff. Seriously, give us a try.
Everybody knows the best bagels in the world are in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Bagel capital of North America.
I have to agree that best bagels are in Montreal at the two places noted. Dense, crunchy and chewy all at the same time. I travel from NYC to Montreal once a year just to buy the bagels....NYC bagels cannot compete. Oh yes....and Schwartz Smoked Meat....
I was in Brooklyn, 2 years ago, in a neighborhood with kosher restaurants, but the bagels were terrible. We had to go to Manhattan to find bagels like they used to taste in Brooklyn.
Best bagels are in St. Louis, MO.
I have had bagels from NYC (Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens), Long Island, Fair Lawn,NJ, and Montreal.
Montreal bagels are by far the best bagels ever. I have eaten a dozen of them, with nothing on them, from St-Viateur, getting back home (30 minutes), and I only weigh around 130lbs. The only problem with the bagels in Montreal is that they're a metro AND a bus ride away (for me).
And they're open 24/7. I think I might go now.