Does anyone know why bagels are largely unprocurable outside New York?
It’s not that I have any strong objection to the fluffy toroidal rolls available under that name in bakeries and supermarkets, but they aren’t actually dense, chewy bagels. Are real bagels somehow more expensive to make than the imitations?
Or is that that many more people like the thought of eating bagels than actually like bagels? Presumably that’s also why pastel-colored, delicate-flavored “nova” has displaced real red, fishy-tasting, salty belly lox.
It’s not that I’m in any ethical position to complain; no doubt the “Thai” and “Cambodian” and “Hunan” food I love would come as a considerable shock to actual Thais, Cambodians, and Hunanese, and I’d probably find the real version of any of them too far-out, and too spicy, for my taste. It’s just that it’s been a long time since I had a real bagel with cream cheese, red onion, and real lox.