Food Memories

I was shopping with my daughter and granddaughter one day, and had just loaded the car with groceries. It’s a true fact that grocery shopping makes you hungry. Don’t they say to never shop on an empty stomach because you buy more?

It must be true, my granddaughter was complaining about feeling STARVED and wanted some Crazy Bread…from the Little Caesars, beside the grocery store. Mom relented and we sent the kid in to purchase us some bread.

The smell of fresh bread, butter and garlic filled the car, and we sat for the next few minutes, eating bread sticks dipped in marinara sauce.

My daughter and I looked at each other and had the same memory. “Remember the bagels we used to buy in Toronto?”

I was working in a small nursing home on Keele Street at the time. One of our physicians was an older man, Jewish. He came in one day with a bagel, loaded, and told me where to find the best bagels in the city. As the bakery wasn’t far from one of the outlet malls we shopped at, we gave it a try.

The place was called Bagel World, and it’s on Wilson, just west of Bathurst. It’s more than a bakery, but at that time, some twenty-five years ago, it was, and most likely still is, a neighbourhood gathering place. The dining room was on one side, the bakery/deli to the other.

It was like another world, and we felt more like tourists than with any sense of belonging, but what can I say, were new to the city and everything felt strange.

We bought these large twisted bagels, and ate the first of them in the car on the way home, they were that good. I’ve never seen, or tasted any like them, which is why the memory is so strong. I looked up Bagel World and found it still exists, and has many other locations, both within the city and in Vaughn. If you ever go by one, you should stop in and give it a try.

(The one on Wilson has a great big bagel on the sign, hard to miss. Enjoy.)