‘Crusty’ and ‘Pillowy’: How NYC-style bagels became big in London
“What is an ‘everything bagel?’”
It’s a question that co-owns Georgia Fenwick-Gomez Papo’s Bagels in the Dalston area of east London, you hear a lot, as customers stare blankly at a menu with words like ‘schmear’, ‘scallion’ and ‘lox’.
Papo’s is part of a wave of new stores in Britain selling New York-style bagels, which are distinguished by being larger, doughier and more heavily spiced than their London counterparts. The shops have sparked both curiosity and innovation, contributing to London’s long history of bagels – or ‘beigels’, as they were originally called here.
Many of the new stores have similar stories: During the coronavirus lockdowns, homesick New Yorkers in 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 missed New York and dreamed of bagels, started watching bagel-making videos on YouTube and testing recipes.
Another bagel connoisseur, Francesca Goldhill from London, spent hours in her mother’s kitchen looking for a recipe that produced bagels similar to Brooklyn Bagel, her favorite when she lived in New York. She opened Bagels + Schmear in Hertfordshire, outside London, in 2022.
Dan Martensen, a former New Yorker, opened They’re bagels! in Primrose Hill last year, after experimenting in his kitchen during the pandemic to try to satisfy his craving for a bagel that reminded him of home, with a “crispy, flavorful shell and a soft interior.”
As Mr. Martensen said shortly after the opening of It’s Bagels! discovered, redesigning a New York bagel shop in London is about more than just the bagels themselves. He encourages his staff to shout orders across the store, something that doesn’t come naturally to British workers, he said.
“I say, ‘Come on guys, shout!’” he said. “I want to keep it true to New York, but it’s really hard.”
Mr Martensen said he enjoys translating words on the menu for customers, such as ‘scallions’ (‘scallions’ in British English) and ‘lox’. On weekends there are lines for It’s Bagels! stretch twice around the blockwith a maximum of 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 Poland the birthplace of the bagel. The first written reference to the bagel may have been in 1610, in a document from the Jewish Council of Krakow, said Maria Balinska, author of “The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread.” But bagels were probably popular long before that, coming to Poland with immigrants from Germany in the 14th century, she said.
Bagels were brought to London in the 19th century by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, who called them “beigels” (pronounced BYE-guls), a variation that reflects a regional differentiation in the pronunciation of the Yiddish word “beygl,” said Eddy Portnoy. an academic advisor at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
Between 1881 and 1914, the Jewish population in London’s East End tripled and bagels were sold on the streets of Petticoat Lane and Brick Lane in east London, and in the nearby Whitechapel district, Ms Balinska said.
Today, the Brick Lane area of East London is home to Britain’s largest Bangladeshi community. But there are still some bagel shops that use “beigel” on signs and menus. That includes two of London’s best-loved bagel bakeries, the 24-hour Beigel Bake and Beigel Shop – although the Beigel Shop was closed in February. It is unclear if and when the store will reopen.
One of the oldest family-run Jewish bakeries in London, Rinkoff Bakery in Whitechapel, was founded in 1911 by Hyman Rinkoff, who emigrated from Odesa, Ukraine. Jennifer Rinkoff, the bakery’s chief marketing officer, said she used to correct customers who said “bagel” instead of “beigel,” but now she finds herself using the American pronunciation. “We’ve kind of given up because everyone says ‘bagel,’” she said.
She said she has been keeping an eye on the popularity of the new New York-style bagel shops, which she heard about through friends and on the Internet. social media. While Rinkoff’s uses mostly family recipes, including original recipes from her great-grandfather, in October they updated Rinkoff’s bagel recipe to make their bagels doughier and more like New York-style bagels.
Around the world, bagel recipes have been adapted to incorporate local ingredients, flavors and cooking methods. In Montreal, bagels are boiled in honey-infused water before being baked. In Jerusalem, bagels tend to be softer and softer less tough than those in New York. In Seoul, a store called the London Bagel Museum sells bagels with truffle cream cheese.
In Newcastle, northern England, Joss Elder co-founded a New York-style store, King Baby Bagels in 2021, after falling in love with bagels while vacationing in New York City. To cater to local tastes, Mr Elder created a bagel topped with ham, mustard, pickles and pea pudding, a traditional Newcastle spread made with yellow split peas. He said he has had his fair share of customers who had never heard of bagels. “We still get a lot of funny looks when people walk past our store,” he says.
Many Londoners say they prefer London bagels to New York ones. Peyman Hakimi, the owner of Daniel’s Bagel Bakery, a traditional kosher bakery in north London, said his bakery has benefited from bagels’ increasing popularity, even as he has noticed more customers avoiding white bread and pastries.
Ms Goldhill, who sells her bagels from London department store Fortnum & Mason and from her shop in Hertfordshire, said she preferred New York bagels to London bagels, but added that bagels are “such a personal thing”.
“It’s very much a debate between ‘beigel’ and ‘bagel,’” she added. She regularly encounters curious customers who ask her to explain ‘everything bagels’, a New York concept and her bestseller. “I can’t tell you how many times I say ‘sesame, black sesame, poppy, garlic, onion and salt’ – it literally comes off the tip of my tongue now.”
Mr. Gomez, who opened Papo’s in 2021, said it may be impossible to make New York bagels outside 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, whether that’s because of the different tap water in London or something inexplicable that doesn’t. it doesn’t translate across the pond at all.
Yet 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?