In Life and Death, Boichik Bagels Knits Bay Area Jews Together
There's a communal aspect to a plate of handmade, warm carbs from Boichik Bagels that's hard to share in words. But it's a feeling that weaves so many Bay Area Jews together.
When the New York Times called Emily Winston’s Berkeley-based Boichik Bagels the best bagel place in America, random New Yorkers started phoning her store to scream at her and call her general manager a bitch. That’s how emotionally salient bagels can be.
As a Jew, I know the almost-sacred role that bagels play in my own culture. Bagels are associated with the Ashkenazi side of the Jewish diaspora–the Jews who historically lived in Eastern Europe. My grandfather was a first-generation Polish immigrant, so a love of bagels is practically in my DNA.
When I spoke to Winston just after the New York Times’ historic ...