Normally, I don’t like to get all negative on this blog— I like to highlight good-quality vegetarian and gluten-free products. But O’Dough’s Bagel Thins were such a disappointment that I’m ranking them right up there with my personal “inedibles:” the unpalatable, dryer than dust rice bread by Ener-G, gritty De Boles pasta, and Food For Life’s brown rice bread with fruit juice, which is terribly dense and sickeningly sweet. *
It was the morning I was flying out of the country, and I had this craving for bagels. Knowing gluten-free stuff is harder to come by in Poland, I wanted something I knew I could easily get in the U.S. Thus: bagels! At Kroger’s, there wasn’t any Udi’s bagels— so I grabbed some O’Doughs. What the hey, try a not-so-well- known brand out. Plus, they have sprouted whole grain flax. Sounds healthy.
Except: these bagels have the disgusting and unmistakable flavor and odor of fish. They smelled fishy, and no matter how much garden vegetable cream cheese I slathered on, I could not hide that pungent, awful flavor. Fishiness crept through the flavored cream cheese, and made my coffee smell like the ocean.
I’m guessing that it’s from the algal oil, an extract added to give the bagels some Omegas 3s. Whatever it was, the bagels were disgusting. (I felt really bad leaving them in my mom’s car after she dropped me off at the airport. They’d likely make good bread crumbs for seagulls, though.)
I’m not the only blogger who thinks these bagels are gross, for the same reason.
Why am I being so harsh on O’Doughs? Because gluten-free isn’t that hard to get right. I don’t want the world’s best bagel— but I did want bagels I could eat without thinking of seafood.
O’Doughs other products might be edible, but after this experience, it’s gonna be a long, long time before I give this brand a chance again. Til then, Udi’s will be my go-to company for my bagel needs.
* I couldn’t find that sweetish, dense rice bread on Food For Life’s website. Maybe they’ve stopped making it (I hope!)
Detroiter in Poland 
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