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A short video still featuring a woman with blonde hair and a text overlay that reads “Things I prefer in the US as a German” with American and German flag emojis, and further states “I don’t know why we don’t have bagels in Germany.”
Above this, the social media post caption reads “I can think of a reason!” The post is from “Vikram Bath @vikrambath.bsky.social.”
I honestly don’t get to bagel hype so I would be glad if somebody could explain it to me. Why wouldn’t you just have a sandwich instead?
Edit: Thank you for your detailed explanations! I don’t live in the US and I have dietary restrictions, so I’m sure that I’ve just never had a good bagel. However you’ve convinced me that they are out there!
It’s all in the texture for me. The denser, somewhat chewy bagel is really nice and holds up to cream cheese a lot better than sandwich bread. They are amazing open face with cream cheese. Some folks like them with butter. It’s fine, but I do love cream cheese far more. I’ve had bagel sandwiches, which can be really good, but I do find them to be really heavy. (Plain or blueberry bagel, with cream cheese and sliced ham is my go-to for a bagel sandwich.)
You can get all sorts of flavors of bagels, like cinnamon, blueberry, and onion. You can get schmear (cream cheese spread) with many different varieties of mixins too, like herbs, fish, and lemon! I think my favorite combo is an onion bagel with garlic herb schmear.
That being said, I do love a good sandwich too.
I am not entirely sure you really like cream cheese, as you mentioned cream cheese only 5 times in your comment
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Creamy creamy cheesy cheesy cream cheese
To tie this whole meme convo back into a circle, schmear is a yiddish word that comes from German schmieren which means to spread!
You know what’s a great way to spruce up a bagel and cream cheese and get kind of a sandwich too? Add lettuce, tomato, and onion and eat the bagel like a sandwich.
I do everything bagel, toasted with either veggie or jalapeño cream cheese with lettuce, tomato, and onion and boy howdy.
Also great on an egg and cheese as well.
Even better: cold smoked salmon/lox, capers, and red onions. Mmmmmmm
Can we make out after?
I like cream cheese. I usually go with butter and cream cheese, followed by salmon and maybe some lemon or dill/mustard sauce. Have you ever tried making cream cheese pastry? I don’t have the recipe at hand but you can make a dough with like 50% cream cheese. Roll it in a circle, top with smoked salmon (or ham I guess), cut into pizza slices and roll into mini croissants and they come out of the oven so crispy and cheesy and delicious it’s the best way to consume a lot of cream cheese IMHO
I’ll add to the others that A LOT of places don’t make bagels well. If it feels like you’re just eating bread then it’s not a good bagel. It should be chewy but also somewhat hard on the outside. A good bagel also doesn’t need to be toasted because it’s fresh.
Here’s my opinion of how to try a bagel in its most classic format, me being someone from the northeast but not New York. Everything bagel, cut in half (like a sandwich), toasted, smear each open face with plain cream cheese (can substitute for veggie cream cheese), eat each half separately.
Otherwise it’s just a different shape of bread like ciabatta or baguette. Personally I don’t love bagels for sandwiches because they tend to not hold up structurally, but bagel is my favorite context for cream cheese.
Good bagels aren’t actually common. You want them from a good place, and you want them fresh. The kind you get that have been baked and sitting out for hours aren’t going to be as good. The kind you buy from grocery stores absolutely don’t cut it.
The way bread is made can make a huge difference in a sandwich. Bagels are made differently than most sandwich breads and offer a different flavor and texture profile.
Like, would you rather have some really good French bread or Wonderbread when you make a sandwich?
Bagel bread is really good. Like a big round soft pretzel.
Hard to explain without experiencing it. Once you have an amazing bagel, you’ll know.
Bagel yummy