Not a Bagel? It's an Obwarzanek Krakowski

You might think it looks like an Einstein's, but just because it's made of thick white dough with a hole in it, don't call it a bagel.  This one’s got a twist to it, and the Polish of Krakow are proud of their obwarzanek krakowskis.  

Come again?  It’s sort of a bagel with a braid, and a group of bakers are pushing the European Union to designate it as a regional specialty like Chianti d Normandi and Prosciutto di Parma as an Old World delicacy.

Except there’s a problem.  Most people think it tastes like a bagel.

“They look pretty much the same, and both are based on a pretty simple premise,” says Patrick Vaughan, an American living in Krakow for the past ten years.

Aah, but there’s proof that the Obwarzanek Krakowski is unique, and the mild bakers are now packing evidence.  The Krakow kind’s got history. 

A decree in 1496 from King John Albert gave certain rights of white bread, which included the obwarzaneks, and another decree in 1611 gave rights to sell it in the city.

Besides, the recipe is different.  The Polish one calls for a bigger roll, and two strands are braided before baking.  Like the bagel—I only whisper the word—the obwarzanek can be sprinkled with poppy seeds or mixed with herbs, spices, cheese, and onion.  

But it’s NOT cut in half to make sandwiches.  

The Polish say it has been produced for 600 years, but Maria Balinska, author of a book about the bagel, disputes that evidence and says they pretty much started as the same.   She interviewed Krakow residents who said that their history was indistinguishable until the 1930s, but what worries the official makers of the Obwarzanek Krakowskis are the “counterfeiters,” who produce them outside the city and pass themselves off as the real thing.

They want their products labeled and imitators prosecuted under law.  The EU is supposed to make a decision shortly, and since no one had objected, Poland is optimistic.  So am I.

 I sit here chewing my bagel in Orlando—can’s find an Obwarzanek Krakowski anywhere--hoping for the best.

Come on, EU.  Some are arguing which one came first, the bagel or the big one, but according to author Balinska that question misses point.  “Both breads… most likely derived from a white, braided German specialty—the pretzel.”

   

And who doesn't like the pretzel?   

I rest my creamed cheese and lox.