A bagel in the morning toasted, dry. Tomato sandwich on a bagel with Vegenaise. Those were two of my favorite snacks up until a couple weeks ago. When I noticed Trader Joe’s bagels had gotten a little fatter I was a bit happy, they even felt softer than before. Picking up the two packs, one sesame and one everything, for the week I noticed something about the label that was different but thought nothing of it.
A day or two later my wife is opening the bag and she says, “These bagels have honey in them.” My first though was no way, they have a vegan logo on the label. Looking at the package the V logo on the front label is missing and honey is listed in the ingredients.
With this change bagels may be unavailable to the vegan, at least in the Nashville area. Panera bagels contain L-Cysteine from an animal source and now Trader Joe’s, the once lone vegan holdout, has jumped ship. I’ve only checked the sesame and everything varieties of Trader Joe’s bagels but there seems to be a supplier change and possibly all varieties now contain honey. This may only apply to the Southeast Trader Joe’s supply as Trader Joe’s uses a different baker for each area of the country to keep their supplies fresh.
You can comment on the change Trader Joe’s has made at this link.
If anyone knows of a vegan bagel please let me know.
UPDATE: After checking, Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat Bagels are still vegan. I asked a Trader Joe’s employee who is familiar with them and said a new supplier was chosen about a month prior for all bagels except the whole wheat. The new supplier uses honey in all recipes. The supplier for the whole wheat variety is the same from two changes ago.
*Possibly only in the Southeast/Atlanta region.
UPDATE: As of June 1, 2011, Panera Bread has changed bagel providers and now serves a tasty vegan bagel without animal sourced L-Cysteine. Go get ’em!
Alvarado Street. They sell it in health food stores. They are made with sprouted grains and are delicious.
I found Alvarado Street bagels at the Coolsprings Whole Foods. The Green Hills location does not carry them. Doing some research I found the company is outstanding and a good one to support.
Good news – Bagel Face, the new bagel place in east Nashville has vegan bagels – right now the choices are Whole Wheat, Plain, Sesame, Poppy, Everything, and Cinnamon Raisin. And a rye bagel sweetened with mollasses is in development. mmm… tasty.
haven’t checked lately but i’ve been buying the tj’s whole wheat bagels and they have the V symbol still. just checked the ingredients and no honey.
Same story in Las Vegas NV.
99.999999% of bread, rolls, bagels now have honey instead of sugar.
Shame on TJs.
This comment comes a year later I realize, but I just found your blog today (thank you by the way for making Vegan in Nash a bit easier!). And Kroger brand bagels are actually Vegan believe it or not!
Do you know if the L-Cysteine comes from animals or is synthetic in Kroger Bagels?