As I was scrolling through my Instagram feed on quite the average morning, I saw something peculiar: a multi-coloured beigel. The person who posted the picture had mentioned that the beigel was from Brick Lane. Knowing the area as I do, this didn’t shock me: it is just the place for colourful things from all cultures. It only made me want to go down the lane to take a look and try one for myself.
Within minutes I saw a shop window saying ‘famous rainbow beigel sold here’. Through the door I went, and straight up to the counter. The rainbow beigel cost the same as the usual plain bagel (50p), and it was the exact same size. I wasn’t sure whether to expect fruity flavours, or the normal salty taste. Only one way to find out….
As it turned out, there were no surprising flavours – only the everyday kind. I realised it was just a plain beigel with some food colouring – eye-catching but tasteless. I was partly relieved (no yuk! factor), and partly disappointed.
Yes, it was colourful but that much I could see that from the photos, without traipsing all the way down here to try the patience of my tastebuds.
Why was I even bovvered? Multi-coloured bagels were first made five years ago in Brooklyn, New York. Baker Scott Rosillio created them to attract attention, and it worked. His colourful creations attracted the attention of a friend of the Kardashians, Jonathan Cheban, who was the first to post a rainbow beigel picture on his Snapchat; and the rest is social media history.
So that’s it! I had just been KK’ed again, without even realising it.