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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.”
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.