West Coast Vs East Coast Bagels: What's The Difference?
The East and West Coast have a rivalry as old as time. Both coasts promise a sea of exciting opportunities to creatives, innovators, and most of all, foodies. While both regions offer some of the best food in the world, comparing the same foods from both coasts will often result in a very different experience. Take bagels, for example. While we may never be able to answer once and for all which bagel is better, we sure can identify noticeable differences in the hole-y baked good based on where it is served.
It can be tough to find an "authentic" bagel shop on the West Coast. Bagels are more commonly enjoyed on the East Coast — the baked good was introduced to America in the 19th Century when immigrants from Poland arrived in New York City and introduced the Big Apple to this Jewish staple food. Nowadays, you can grab an authentic New-York-Style bagel around practically every corner in the state of New York and the surrounding New England areas.
The West Coast was a bit slower to the bagel craze, although certain shops in the Golden State have been known to hold their own against the opposing state's elite standards. While flavor variations can vary slightly between the two coasts based on recipe and ratio, it is actually the texture that is the biggest difference between East and West Coast bagels.
Would you like your bagel boiled or steamed?
West Coast bagels are traditionally lighter and chewier than East Coast bagel dough. Some claim that the secret to a thick, crunchy New York City bagel comes from the city's water. High levels of calcium and magnesium present in the East Coast's hard water supply reacts to gluten proteins, leading to a denser texture than West Coast bagels. However, the true difference in texture most likely comes from how the bagels are prepared: boiled versus steamed.
The practice of boiling bagels likely derives from the pastry's origins in 17th century Poland. During a time when Polish Jews were banned from making bread, bakers found a way to prepare baked goods without using traditional bread-making methods by boiling the uncooked dough, and thus the bagel was born. Many bagel shops established on the East Coast during the Great Migration brought this boiling method with them overseas.
To this day, a vast majority of bagel shops on the East Coast use the traditional boiling-before-baking method when preparing bagels. East Coast bagels are often highly regarded for their density, consisting of thick dough and crunchy crust, but not everyone loves a dense bread dough. Certain bakers have found that steaming bagels rather than boiling them provides a fluffier, cake-like inside and outer sheen. This bagel texture is commonly found on the West Coast, leading us to believe that steaming method is more common in that region. While there is a very distinct difference in both flavor and texture based on the preparation process, it boils down to personal preference.
Be mindful of which coast you are on when ordering your bagels
Bagel culture is much more prominent on the East Coast than West, and with it comes a set of guidelines. This Daily Meal writer is a Los Angeles native who moved to New York City, and I can confirm first hand that ordering bagels on the East Coast can be a bit daunting if you aren't fully initiated. East Coasters claim to have a proper way of ordering, topping, and even eating bagels, while those on the West Coast seem to be a little more relaxed about proper procedures. I've heard some city dwellers claim that real New Yorkers don't toast their bagels, while others on the East Coast call it sacrilegious to enjoy a bagel with anything other than lox and regular cream cheese, which is called "schmear" by the locals.
Many will recall the scooped bagel controversy on TikTok from 2023 that had East Coasters up in arms over an LA native's quest to find a bagel shop in NYC that was willing to scoop out the inner layer of bagel dough so there would be more room for toppings. As innovative as that might be from a technical point of view, native New Yorkers were seriously offended at the idea of removing the inside of a perfectly good bagel. Some advice from a New York City transplant: When people from the West Coast order bagels while on an East Coast vacation, be sure to pay attention to proper bagel etiquette or risk giving yourself away as a tourist.