Rainbow Bagels: Phagomania

We welcome the latest food trend to spiral into unashamed childishness – the rainbow bagel – as well as its relatives, the rainbow beigel and the rainbow donut.

Feature by Lewis MacDonald | 12 Apr 2016

It's the latest food trend to, in the parlance of our times, 'break the internet'. Bagels that scream “hyper mega unicorns life is awesome and I’m special yum”, like a bullet of internet hyperbole transformed into stark, sober reality. These very bright and colourful bagels are expertly made by The Bagel Store in Brooklyn, New York – the very land that brought us past Phagomania inspirations the Cronut and the ramen burger.

Scot Rossillo is a self-proclaimed bagel artist and the man singularly responsible for the Rainbow Bagel (a name he has trademarked). Following recent celebrity endorsements via Snapchat (in case you were wondering, Kim Kardashian BFF Jonathan Cheban snapped a load of bagels), Instagram became awash with #rainbowbagel and Rossillo’s store hasn’t been able to keep up with orders since.

This hasn’t held back the production of many different versions of the bagel but behind the scenes the hand-crafted approach remains the same. Neon layers are flattened, cut and expertly twisted to form the playdough-esque ring. These are topped off with cream cheese and funfetti sprinkles, or even a full breakfast (as if things weren’t crazy enough).

Rainbow Beigels & Rainbow Doughnuts

Fortunately you no longer have to travel to New York to get your rainbow fix. As of two months ago, if you find yourself in London's Brick Lane, you can land yourself a rainbow beigel (note the spelling difference) from local institution Beigel Shop. Being much more sensible and British, your multi-coloured beigels come with a range of savoury fillings such as salt beef or smoked salmon. We also note that the colours are slightly more muted and sensible in hue compared to their American rivals, although neither bakery were willing the dispel their exact secret behind the tones.

The trend for psychedelic rainbow foods appears to be spreading in 2016, with the next stop being doughnuts. Back across the pond, Moe’s Doughs Donut Shop launched rainbow doughnuts into internet virality. Already specialising in a large range of flavours, including their signature ‘cake dough donuts’, they simply blended existing flavours into a kaleidoscopic ring of sugary delight. We even got the lowdown straight from Moe on this one. With the combination of red velvet cake, sour creme cake, pistachio cake, strawberry cake, and blueberry cake, the rainbow cake donut was born.

What is the next chapter in this multi-coloured story? Even we don’t know at this stage, but if the next food craze doesn’t feature all the secondary and primary colours at once then rest assured we won’t be eating it.


More from our Phagomania food column:

When Fast Food Goes Wrong: From Kuro burgers to bacon sundaes

Pantone Smoothies: Blending art, food, and pitch-perfect colour matching