On Greeting a Stranger on the Street...

I don't know how to feel

So Lender's Bagels has come out with it's line of "NOW! Improved Taste" bagels. My initial reaction was, of course, that this was a terrible, terrible idea. You see, I've always been a fan of Lender's Bagels. Of course, they don't compare to a good bakery bagel, or even some of the "high class" bagels that many people are used to, but I think that when it comes to packaged, pre-sliced bagels, Lender's is the leader.

The other week, my mom bought me some Sara Lee bagels. Now for my money, Sara Lee has, in the past, consistantly put out good-tasting products. Now this was mostly their frozen-goods and their desserts, but it's what I thought of when i saw the bagels in my refrigerator. I don't know what prompted my mom to get them, but she did. Perhaps they were all out of the Lender's Plain variety (the only good type of packaged, pre-sliced bagels, in my opinion), or perhaps she thought it was time to break tradition, but whatever the reason, there they sat in my refrigerator in not one, but two forms. Normal bagels, and mini-bagels.

Now, before I get to the actual taste part, I'm going to talk about the novelty of a mini-bagel. Now when I first saw these, I thought, "That's going to be impossible to toast!" as it would never fit in a normal toaster. But walking over to the toaster, I realized we have a toaster oven. Before actually putting the bagel in the toaster oven, I gave the bag a precautionary sniff to see what they smelled like. It did not bode well for these new bagels. But regardless, the bagels would be able to be toasted in the toaster oven. Problem solved there. As I was cooking the initial one, I thought how similar in size these bagels were to 'Bagel Bites®' bagels. This seemed like a good thing to me, as - how awesome would it be to make your own mini-bagel pizzas? But alas, the novelty wore off far too soon.

I had previously had a sack of Brugger's Bagels (available in Iowa City and are the finest bagels I've tasted in my admittedly short bagel-eating career).Now I like my Brugger's Bagels with Brugger's brand cream cheese. I told my mom to pick me up some at the same time she got her bagels, but she must have misinterpreted this as me asking for any old run-of-the-mill spreading topping. When she arrived home with the bagels, I saw to my dismay that the cream cheese she had gotten was Philadelphia® Regular Cream Cheese Spread (with 25% less saturated fat than butter, the tub so prominently states). By a striking coincidence, this Philadelphia topping is made by Kraft, the company who also makes the tasty Bagel Bites snacks mentioned earlier. These Brugger's Bagels tasted fine with the Philidelphia spread, but not as good as it could have been with Brugger's brand.

Brugger's bagels, as I have come to understand, are moderately expensive compared to the packaged, pre-sliced bagels available in either your local grocer's bread section, or their refrigerated case. Because of this fact, I had recieved a moderate number of Brugger's bagels. Because of this fact, I had much Philadelphia Regular Cream Cheese Spread left over from my Brugger's experience. This, I decided, would go on my newly acquired Sara Lee bagel (mind you, the mini-version.) Before I spread it, I took a quick bite of the mini-bagel to test for taste. And let me tell you...

Disappointing.

But I thought perhaps the topping spread, or spreading topping, or top spread, or, to put it simply, the Philidelphia brand Regular Cream Cheese Spread, could improve the rather disappointing original taste. It did not. This held true with both small and large varieties of Sara Lee bagels.

So think of my delight when I was able to request Lender's bagels when I was being shopped for earlier today. I thought that finally, I would have my good old Lender's brand Plain bagels back. Opening up the refrigerator, you could not have imagined the sinking feeling in my stomach when I not only saw the new packaging style, but also the aforementioned "NOW! Improved Taste" on the side of the bagels. I was wary of this new bagel. My previous experiences with "improved" snack foods have not been good in the past. The "WOW!" version of Lay's Potato Chips prove a good example, as does "New Coke" for those old enough to remember it.

I opened up the bag and took another precautionary sniff. It seemed quite different from my loved and cherished Lender's bagels of the past, yet... strangely familiar. It had a vague sense of still being Lender's Bagels, but.. with a new twist.

I decided that, once again, trying a new type of bagel would require it to be toasted first. I also decided, once again, to use the Philadelphia Regular Cream Cheese Spread. I toasted the bagel, and, as with the original Sara Lee bagel, took a bite before spreading.

I was at a loss.

I was supposed to hate these new, "NOW! Improved Taste" bagels, but... I didn't. In fact, I liked them. I liked them a lot. Comparable to the original? I don't know. I really don't. But an acceptable substitute, I must say. I think I can certainly live with these new "NOW! Improved Taste" bagels, and may, in time, grow to love them as I did their original.

Lender's Plain "NOW! Improved Taste" Bagels:
**1/2 out of 4