Here in Rome, everyone and their mother has been adding bagels to their menus lately. Being the bagel-lover I am, I went and tried almost every single one (I won't name names but I'm sure most of you can figure it out) and I can safely say THOSE ARE NOT BAGELS! They're just buns shaped like bagels with some seeds sprinkled on top. Mind you, they're tasty buns, but they ain't bagels and it really gets my goat that they're trying to pass them off as such. It's an outrage, it's scandalous, it's misleading, and it's sad that Romans will think they've eaten a bagel but have no idea what they're missing out on.
But wait... so as not be all doom and gloom, I have to point out that there is one place that makes a somewhat authentic bagel, meaning it's as close as anyone in Rome has ever come to a real bagel: a restaurant in Trastevere called Alle Fratte di Trastevere. The owner's wife is American and a few years back she started making bagels and selling them on the weekends. She has expanded her business and operates during the week too, and her bagels are decent. Mind you, they're no Ess-a-Bagel bagels, but they sufficiently satisfy my bagel cravings.
