The backstory
Growing up in West Los Angeles I learned to love bagels. I suspect that my parents, Goldie and Seymour, migrated from the Bronx with bagels in their bags! Every Sunday my mother sent my father on a trip to our local bakery (shout out to Fred’s) and he returned with horns, bagels, bialy’s and of course cream cheese and cod fish.
I’m not a bagel fanatic, but when I started to bake muffins, cakes croissants, scones bread and other yeasty products, I realized that I love making bagels. They are dependable, reliable, sturdy, and simple. They are an uncomplicated delightful nutritional food that can keep me satisfied from meal to meal.
Miguel
I was caretaking my husband through a long illness and baking soothed my soul and calmed my nerves. I found kneading to be meditative and loved hand rolling each bagel, enjoying that no two were the same. Some might think that non-identical bagels are non-professional but I consider them artisan and unique-each with their own DNA.
Friends and neighbors loved the bagels. Some encouraged me to sell them and one neighbor simply ordered so many I couldn’t afford to give them away. Thus, Sherry’s Bagels sprouted.
When my husband died in March of 2022 I increased my bagel production, reaching out to neighbors and friends in my community not only as bagel testers, but as support. I found so much encouragement and enjoyment from offering bagels, I finally decided to officially offer a Sunday Bake so other families could enjoy the fresh baked Sunday bagel as I did.
Sherry’s Bagels are kneaded with love and dedicated to Miguel Espino, her partner and comrade of 43 years, who died on March 22, 2022.
There is no flour in Gaza
I find it difficult to bake these days without acknowledging the intentional starvation of the Palestinian people surviving in Gaza. Israel has been using food as a weapon long before October 7th. Since the 2007, Israel calculated the minimum numbers of calories required to maintain a weakened population, according to Human Rights Watch, 2021.
For an undetermined period, Sherry’’s Bagels will be raising funds for ProjectHope-Palestine, a mutual aid program supporting people in Gaza with clean water for baking and cleaning.
This inspirational mural designed and painted by Kristen Kong is titled: You Are On Ohlone Land. When you come to pick up your bagels you can see this in person!
Veronica Chin, Owner/Baker of A Pie in the Sky - El Cerrito
“So far I’ve tried Sherry’s Sesame Seed and plain bagels and bagel balls. They’ve all been incredible. You can taste the freshness , and she’s got that perfect balance of a dense interior that’s deep with flavor, and that oh so good chewy exterior. I know when I’m eating her bagels they were made with love. ”
Robin Mitchell - El Cerrito
