Never get a "bagel" in Canada. I'm sitting in a Tim Hortons in the

[sinkingfeeling]

Vancouver airport waiting until 10AM to check into my hotel room. Only two places open: Starbucks and Tim Hortons. I ordered a bagel with cream cheese and managed to eat a quarter of the gluey mess. Horrible! And I'm really tired.

[Sherman A1]

1. Thank You for the advice

I will stick with Panera (St. Louis Bread Company as it was once known) and their bread sliced bagels.

[donkeypoofed]

2. Their bagels are pretty good! You must've met a bad one.

It happens but I just had a bagel 12 hrs ago and it was fresh, chewy and delicious.

I tried a donut from Dunkin when I was in Vegas and it was awful and tasteless.

Get a donut instead maybe.

Bagel belts are the bomb! With sausage on a 4-cheese bagel is my fave. So delicious.

Have a good flight!

[CentralMass]

3. Quite a fews years back Dunkin Donuts changed their recipe to use a healthier fat.

The result was healthier doughnuts that taste like dentist's fingers.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

4. I've always wanted to try a Montreal style bagel.

All I've ever had is New York style and they kind of run the show like the mafia in terms of bagels, sadly.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

7. Montreal bagels are fantastic. And, if you do find your way to Montreal have some smoked meat.

My favorite is at Dunn’s. 😋

[applegrove]

15. Love Montreal bagels.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

16. 😋🥯

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Don't ever get Mexican food in Canada.

I did once, and what a mistake that was.

But speaking of doughnuts, I can't tell if it's simply that I've gotten older (now 70) or that they've changed something fundamental in how they are made, but doughnuts, even at supposed doughnut shops, just aren't very good. The texture is all wrong. And they don't have very much flavor, compared to those of my childhood.

[Wounded Bear]

6. Re: Donuts...

I suspect a lot of bakers, especially cheap ones, are not using real sugar anymore.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. I'm not sure that would be the problem,

as sugar would be crucial to the texture of cakes, as it is with cookies and brownies, just to name two other sweet things.

Occasionally I'll have the misfortune to have a cookie made by someone who doesn't believe in real sugar, but uses honey for the sweetener. Even if they're sweet enough, which they usually are, the texture is awful.

I suspect the problem is more with some kind of cheap flour and synthetic flavorings. Or exactly how they are baked or deep fried.

Many years ago, when I was in high school, I'd sometimes get up early and do homemade donuts of my own. The recipe came from my mom's cookbook which was published in the 1930s. I just did a drop donut in oil, sort of like an oversized donut hole. They were very good. Ahhh, memories of youth!

[Wounded Bear]

9. I think you made my point...

I'm not sure that would be the problem, as sugar would be crucial to the texture of cakes

What I'm saying is that they may be using artificial sweeteners and/or things like HFCS, which as a liquid mixes in with bakery ingredients faster and easier. So, if they're not using actual granulated sugar it could affect the texture of the pastry as well as the flavor. I see this in grocery market bakeries all the time.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. Had an excellent donut at Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland yesterday.

[Recursion]

14. My wife and I split the Voodoo Cap'n Crunch donut on our honeymoon

Voodoo still holds a special place in my heart.

[Codeine]

17. I've heard their vegan donuts are off the charts good. nt

[Recursion]

10. Montreal bagels are their own thing and quite amazing

Outside of Montreal or Vancouver, though: yeah. Avoid bagels.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. It came from a Vancouver Tim Hortons. I have never had a worse bagel

in my life. It was like eating some kid's modeling clay.

[Recursion]

13. Oh that's depressing

I'm very sorry to hear that, Vancouver used to be reliable for bagels.