Bagel - Bagels Around The World

Bagels Around The World

Pretzels, especially the large soft ones, are similar to bagels, the main exceptions being the shape and the alkaline water bath that makes the surface dark and glossy.

In Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, the bublik is essentially a much larger bagel, but have a wider hole, and are drier and chewier Other ring-shaped breads known among East Slavs are baranki (smaller and drier) and sushki (even smaller and drier).

In Lithuania, bagels are called riestainiai, and sometimes by their Slavic name baronkos.

In Finland, vesirinkeli are small rings of yeast-leavened wheat bread. They are placed in salted boiling water before being baked. They are often eaten for breakfast toasted and buttered. They are available in several different varieties (sweet or savoury) in supermarkets.

The Uyghurs of Xinjiang, China, enjoy a form of bagel known as girdeh nan (from Persian, meaning round bread), which is one of several types of nan, the bread eaten in Xinjiang. It is uncertain if the Uyghur version of the bagel was developed independently of Europe or was the actual origin of the bagels that appeared in Central Europe.

In Turkey, a salty and fattier form is called açma. The ring-shaped simit is sometimes marketed as a Turkish bagel, and is very similar to the twisted sesame-sprinkled bagels pictured being sold in early 20th century Poland. Simit are also sold on the street in baskets or carts, like bagels were then.

In some parts of Austria, ring-shaped pastries called Beugel are sold in the weeks before Easter. Like a bagel, the yeasted wheat dough, usually flavored with caraway, is boiled before baking. However, the Beugel is crispy and can be stored for weeks. Traditionally it has to be torn apart by two individuals before eating.

The pronunciation and spelling of bagel varies among communities. In Canada, for instance, people from Toronto and Montreal, pronounce it like bay-gel, (the Yiddish pronunciation) -whereas people from the smaller towns of Northern Ontario and the east coast of Canada tend to pronounce the first syllable as bag-el, as in 'shopping bag'. In addition, some bagel makers in the U.S. (particularly New England producer Zeppy's) spell the word "baigel", while maintaining the typical pronunciation.

In the UK, bagels are popular in London, Brighton, Leeds, Belfast, and Manchester. On Brick Lane in east London, there are two long-established bagel shops in which the item is spelled beigel, with pronunciation (bygl) to match. Bagels are sold by many food store chains such as Tesco, Morrisons and others.

In Romania, bagels are popular topped with poppy, sesame seeds or large salt grains, especially in the central area of the country, and the recipe does not contain any added sweetener. They are named covrigi.

"Bagel" is also a Yeshivish term for sleeping 12 hours straight, e.g., "I slept a bagel last night." There are various opinions as to the origins of this term. It may be a reference to the fact that bagel dough has to "rest" for at least 12 hours between mixing and baking, or simply to the fact that the hour hand on a clock traces a bagel shape over the course of twelve hours.

In Japan, the first kosher bagels were brought by BagelK (ベーグルK) from New York in 1989. BagelK created green tea, chocolate, maple-nut, and banana-nut flavors for the market in Japan. There are three million bagels exported from the U.S. annually, and it has a 4%-of-duty classification in Japan. Some Japanese bagels are sweet; the orthodox kosher bagels are the same as in the U.S.