“What’s a ‘bagel for everything?’
It’s a question Georgia Fenwick-Gomez, co-owner of Papo’s Bagels in East London’s Dalston neighborhood, hears a lot as customers blankly stare at a menu with words like “schmear,” “scallion” and “lox.”
Papo’s is part of a wave of new shops in Britain selling New York-style bagels, distinguished as bigger, doughier and tastier than their London counterparts. The shops sparked both curiosity and innovation, adding to London’s long history of bagels — or “beigels,” as they were originally known here.
Many of the new shops have similar stories: During the coronavirus lockdown, New Yorkers homesick for London began experimenting with baking bagels at home. Ms Fenwick-Gomez and Gabriel “Papo” Gomez, the other co-owner of Papo’s, moved to England from New York in 2018. Once the pandemic hit, Mr. Gomez, who was away from New York and dreaming of bagels, began watching bagel-making videos on YouTube and testing recipes.
Another bagel connoisseur, Francesca Goldhill, from London, spent hours in her mother’s kitchen trying to find a recipe that produced bagels similar to those from Brooklyn Bagel, her favorite when she lived in New York. Open Bagels + Schmear in Hertfordshire, outside London, in 2022.
Dan Martensen, a former New Yorker, opened It’s Bagels! in Primrose Hill last year, after experimenting in his kitchen during the pandemic to try and satisfy his craving for a bagel that reminded him of home, with a “crust, tasty shell and a pillow inside”.
As Mr. Martensen discovered soon after opening It’s Bagels!, recreating a New York bagel shop in London is about more than the bagels themselves. He encourages his staff to shout orders across the store, which doesn’t come naturally to British employees, he said.
“I say, ‘Come on guys, shout!’ he said. “I want to keep it real in New York, but it’s really hard.”
Mr Martensen said he likes to translate words on the menu for customers, such as “scallions” (“spring onions” in British English) and “lox”. On weekends, lines for It’s Bagels! stretch around the block twice, with up to 150 people in line.
Other bagel shops that have recently expanded or opened in Britain include The Good Bagel, Paulie’s Bagels, Lincoln Bagel Co. and B Bagels.
Many consider the birthplace of the bagel to be Poland. The first written reference to the bagel may have been in 1610, in a document of the Jewish Council of Krakow, said Maria Balinska, author of “The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread.” But bagels were likely popular long before then, arriving with immigrants from Germany to Poland in the 14th century, he said.
Bagels were brought to London in the 1800s by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, who called them “beigels,” (pronounced BYE-guls) a variation that reflects a regional variation in the pronunciation of the Yiddish word “beygl,” Eddy Portnoy said. academic advisor at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
Between 1881 and 1914, the Jewish population in London’s East End tripled and the bagels were sold on Petticoat Lane and Brick Lane in east London and in the nearby Whitechapel neighbourhood, Ms Balinska said.
Today, East London’s Brick Lane neighborhood is home to the largest Bangladeshi community in Britain. However, some bagel shops remain, using “beigel” on signs and menus. This includes two of London’s best-loved bagel bakeries, Beigel Bake and Beigel Shop, which are open 24 hours a day — although Beigel Shop closed in February. It is unclear if and when the store will reopen.
One of the oldest family-owned Jewish bakeries in London, Rinkoff Bakery in Whitechapel was founded in 1911 by Hyman Rinkoff, who emigrated from Odessa, Ukraine. Jennifer Rinkoff, the head of marketing for the bakery, said she used to correct customers who said “bagel” instead of “beigel,” but now finds herself using the American accent. “We’ve kind of given up because everybody says ‘bagel,'” he said.
He said he has watched the popularity of new New York-style bagel shops, which he heard about through friends and social media. While Rinkoff’s uses mostly family recipes, including the original from her great-grandfather, she updated Rinkoff’s bagel recipe in October to make their bagels doughier and more like New York-style bagels.
Around the world, bagel recipes have been modified to incorporate local ingredients, flavors and cooking methods. In Montreal, bagels are boiled in honey water before baking. In Jerusalem, bagels tend to be softer and less chewy than those in New York. In Seoul, a shop called the London Bagel Museum sells bagels with truffle cream cheese.
In Newcastle, northern England, Joss Elder co-founded New York-style shop King Baby Bagels in 2021 after falling in love with bagels on holiday in New York. To cater for local tastes, Mr Elder has created a bun with ham, mustard, pickles and pea pudding, a traditional Newcastle spread made with yellow peas. He said he had his fair share of customers who had never heard of bagels. “We still get a lot of funny looks when people walk by our store,” he said.
Many Londoners say they prefer London bagels to New York bagels. Peyman Hakimi, owner of Daniel’s Bagel Bakery, a traditional kosher bakery in North London, said his bakery had benefited from bagels becoming more fashionable, although he has noticed more shoppers avoiding white bread and pastries .
Ms Goldhill, who sells her bagels from London department store Fortnum & Mason and from her store in Hertfordshire, said she preferred New York bagels to those in London, but added that bagels were “such a personal thing”. .
“It’s very much a conversation between ‘beigel’ and ‘bagel,'” he added. She regularly encounters curious customers who ask her to explain “everything pretzels,” a New York concept and her best seller. “I can’t tell you how many times I say ‘sesame, black sesame, poppy seed, garlic, onion and salt’ — it’s literally coming off the tip of my tongue now.”
Mr. Gomez, who opened Papo’s in 2021, said it may be impossible to recreate New York bagels outside of New York. His shop uses what he calls “New York swagger” — a reference to both New York baking techniques and New York attitude — but his bagels aren’t quite New York bagels, either because of the different tap water in London either because of something inexplicable It doesn’t translate across the pond.
Nevertheless, they are now part of London’s long history of absorbing different recipes and cuisines. And who said they had to be perfect replicas to be delicious?
