The rainbow bagel is the brainchild of Bagel Artist Scot Rossillo, the founder of The Bagel Store in Brooklyn, NY. A beautiful mix of colors that you can’t believe you can eat, these rainbow bagels have been around since 2000. But only recently have they blown up as the most Instagrammable internet food sensation in recent memory.
Photo courtesy of @thebagelstore on Instagram
After dragging myself out of bed on Saturday morning, taking the subway to Brooklyn and dealing with people in line for an hour, I held a rainbow bagel with cookies and cream flavored cream cheese in my hands.
Only made in small batches per day, the rainbow bagel is a wonderful mix of colors that you can get with many types of spreads: their famous Funfetti cream cheese, Nutella cream cheese, maple walnut cream cheese and even chipotle cream cheese.
Photo by Natasha Nurjadin
The bagel itself, in the opinion of a bagel lover, was worth the hype, and the sweet cream cheese I got complimented with the bagel very well. Although they don’t toast their rainbow bagels (and don’t bother asking, it probably ruins the aesthetic), the texture was good and it still tasted like a great bagel. Since I’ve got an insane sweet tooth, I really enjoyed the cookies and cream, but the rainbow bagel still tasted pretty good with plain cream cheese too.
A friend I went with got the rainbow bagel with The Bagel Store’s famous egg, bacon and cheddar mix, and it was good as well. When the cheddar had melted all over the place it tasted amazing.
Photo by Natasha Nurjadin
I was seriously amazed at how the bagel, which kind of looked like Play-Doh, could actually taste great. On the store’s walls, there are signs that say that they pride themselves on how they don’t sacrifice taste or quality for aesthetics, and they really did ensure that.
Right now, their popularity is skyrocketing, and if you can’t access Brooklyn to line up, online orders are available. However, they have recently gotten more than 1,000 orders, and due to the fact that they don’t mass-produce the bagels, they aren’t taking any more orders for a couple days. You can, however, sign up to be notified when the orders become available again.
I guarantee, though, if you go to Brooklyn, don’t be fazed by the long line that can stretch around the block. The wait will be worth it, and the number of likes on your next Instagram photo will make it worth it as well.