As reported in the New York Times on March 5th of this year, bagels are believed to have been invented in Germany centuries ago. and later made their way to Poland. They were first referenced in writing in 1610 in a document issued by the Jewish Council of Krakow, but the Times’ story quotes a food historian who concluded that they were centuries old by that time. Bagels were brought to the United Kingdom capital of London in the Nineteenth Century by Jewish immigrants who settled in the Whitechapel area of East London where they were known as ‘beigels,” and several shops in that area still bear signs and menus with that spelling. And the recipes that those immigrants brought with them produced a drier and less soft commodity than their counterparts in New York City, and were usually only served in the three categories : plain, sesame, and poppy seed. But those limitations are gradually being eroded, according to the Times’ food reporter, by the recent arrival of New York style bagels there in a series of stores, many of whom are operated by expatriates from the Big Apple. Apparently during the coronavirus pandemic in London some Americans began to experiment with baking New York style bagels at home, and sharing them with friends and neighbors who encouraged them to open bakeries to commercially distribute their creations. And the older shops who prepared them began to alter some of their centuries old recipes to create a more flavorful product in response to their new competition. One of those recent entrepreneurs is quoted in the report as saying that on a daily basis she is asked by customers to explain what an everything bagel is and that the words “sesame, black sesame, poppy, garlic, onion and salt” now come effortlessly off her tongue in response. But some of those bakers say that they can never truly replicate New York Style bagels due to the difference in the waters of New York City and the British capital. According to students of the Oklahoma food scene, New York type bagels were first produced in the Sooner State in large numbers in a series of shops that were first opened in Stillwater in the 1980’s by three young male New Yorkers of Italian heritage who soon brought their concept to Oklahoma City and Tulsa. They were in turn succeeded by several young native Oklahomans who had worked in their establishments before their closures who christened their enterprise “The Old School Bagel Café” in a nod to their innovative predecessors Their first operation was based in what had been at one time a movie theater in the Quail Plaza Shopping Center on May Avenue, and that establishment remains their flagship as they have opened more stores across the state and placed their corporate headquarters on what at what time was the theater balcony. Their diverse types of bagels have long been the type that Londoner’s have just recently gained access to and a sojourn at any one of their places is indicative of how New York bagels have become a staple of the Oklahoma food scene.
Against the Grain 