It's the return of the bagel wars. The longstanding Twitter debate — in which New Yorkers, Montrealers and sometimes New Jerseyans (???) fight over their local recipes for bread with a hole in the middle — has reignited.
And Montrealers aren't going down without a fight.
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How did the bagel debate start this time?
This time, in addition to their usual New York counterparts, Quebec bagel lovers are facing off with Californians and what looks like a growing neutral faction arguing that the debate is silly and that bagels all basically taste the same.
The current debate follows the publication of an article titled "The Best Bagels Are in California (Sorry, New York)" in The New York Times.
In it, restaurant critic Tejal Rao highlights what she calls a "bagel boom" in California, which, according to her reporting, includes Montreal and New York-style bagels.
(MTL Blog has reached out to Rao for a comment on this story and the ongoing Twitter debate. This article will be updated when we get a response.)
What are the bagel factions saying?
Well, exactly what you'd expect. Though this time they're mostly keeping it civil — save for a few expletives.
Among Montreal bagel lovers, there's also the usual splintering of the conversation into arguments about Fairmount and Saint-Viateur bagels.
Interestingly, in some cases, it looks like Montrealers and New Yorkers have stopped targeting each other and are instead saving their strongest feelings for California. Could this be the beginning of a new alliance?
Then there are the few, very persistent, New Jersey bagel enthusiasts. They're backed by the official Twitter account of the government of the state of New Jersey.
Is this bagel debate pointless?
That's what some people seem to think.
In at least a few highly-circulated tweets, neutral parties are arguing that all bagels are kind of the same.
Others, like Canadian comedian Jay Baruchel, are taking issue with this line of thinking.
It seems the bagel alliances are shifting. Could this work out in Montreal's favour?
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