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."
Of course we have bagels in Germany. But with a good Baker having one or two dozen variants of rolls anyway, nobody actually needs defect rolls with a hole in the middle.
I would never consider a bagel as a roll. I'm not sure what I would call it except excellent. But it isn't a roll with a hole in the middle. I'm legitimately sorry if that has been your bagel experience.
Rolls are good, don't get me wrong, but there's a certain density to bagels that most rolls don't have any business trying to imitate.
It's just a different type of bread product entirely.
If people prefer rolls, that's cool. Eat what you like, but nobody should be going around saying that rolls are universally better than bagels. They're different, sometimes you feel like eating a while loaf of bread in one handheld package and bagels are there for you.
Maybe bagels are better than American rolls, but that is not exactly aiming high. Have you ever tried German rolls? Because after that, you won't touch bagels anymore, unless you go back to the US. And yes, I've had them all, and I don't understand how you can stand those squishy, HFCS-loaded things.
it’s not, though - in europe, the term “roll” encompasses much more baked goods than it does in the US I assume, because to me bagels are a kind of roll, hope that makes sense. I guess it’s kind of like how biscuits are different to americans also.
Another European here. Might be because I'm into baking but I don't think a bagel should be classified as a roll. Bagels are boiled in water prior to baking which gives them a rather unique texture compared to rolls.
Sadly most commercially available "bagels" are not actually produced in this way.
American living in Germany, working happily at a German bakery. Brötchen can be absolutely spectacular and I love German bread, but I still miss bagels. I’ve never had a good one here, but the ones you find in the grocery store are basically similar to grocery store bagels in the US(though sometimes they’re not boiled here, which explains why they might seem like Brötchen with a hole).
It’s honestly similar to good Laugengebäck, just without the taste of lye (Lauge), which makes sense. If that’s not appealing to you, sure, but my homemade bagels (which are good but not spectacular, compared to some bagels I’ve had) have always been a hit among the Germans I’ve made them for.