New York and bagels—a marriage made in heaven. Tourists wouldn’t miss the quintessential New York experience and for many Big Apple residents it’s a daily treat.
Who knew that bagels would become the subject of a cultural debate?
To scoop or not to scoop. Some of us have been privately scooping the doughy middle out of them forever, without objection from anyone, but now the question has gone public when a California visitor, Taylor Offer, asked the man at the deli counter to scoop out his bagel and Mr. Deli Man first pretended he didn’t know what that meant and then firmly refused to do it.
What is going on here?
The practice of removing some of the doughy interior of a bagel to make room for more toppings makes perfect sense to those of us who have been doing it for years, but it sparked heated debates among New Yorkers, who pride themselves on having the best bagels in the world. When the California man asked for both scooped and gluten free, that was too much. Mr. Deli went New York-ballistic. “I’m not scooping your f–king bagel, bro”, he answered, and compared the poor excuse of a bagel that the customer wanted to buying a car without wheels.
Some argue that scooping is a sacrilege, a waste of precious bread that ruins the texture and flavor of the bagel. Others claim that scooping is a smart way to reduce calories, increase crunchiness, and enhance the filling-to-bagel ratio. This last claim is doubtful. Healthline reports that while scooping out a large bagel may decrease the calorie content by about half, it also notes that this may not make much difference if you fill the scooped bagel with high-calorie toppings or spreads.
Whether you’re a scooper or a non-scooper, one thing is clear: the bagel scoop debate is not cooling down anytime soon, especially since Californians and New Yorkers love to feud about cultural differences.
Offer told Insider that, in comparison, restaurants and shops in Los Angeles would have happily executed this order. “In LA, they support that. They’re like, good for you, you’re working on your health, I’m proud of you,” he said.
New Yorkers are not so forgiving of offenses to their treasured symbol of the Big Apple: “So sorry but I have such a hard time respecting a scooped bagel,” one top comment said. “How you not embarrassed to ask for that,” another person wrote with a crying-laughing emoji. Taylor has even received a barrage of disturbing hate, including one person who messaged him, “Scoop yourself a grave and jump in it.”
While Taylor was thrown out by Mr. Deli, the next bagel shop he went into had no problem with a GF, scooped out bagel. After all, New Yorkers also know that the customer is always right.
