With news that General Mills will no longer be able to continue making Liberté cream cheese, bagel lovers, in particular, have gone into a bit of panic.
Founded by the Kaporovsky family in 1936, Liberté — initially known as Liberty Dairy Products — was created in a building on the corner of St-Urbain and Duluth Streets in Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal borough, as reported by CBC. From there, the Kaporovskys sold kosher dairy products such as cream cheese, cottage cheese and sour cream to the Jewish community living in the area, according to Romanow. The company was eventually acquired by multinational yogurt producer Yoplait, and then by General Mills in 2021.
When I stopped by my “go to” Dizz’s Bagel and Deli on Côte St. Luc Road, owner Steve Dizgun was telling customers they have nothing to worry about. Dizz’s has been around for 28 solid years and recently expanded with a West Island location in Pointe-Claire Village. They are so ready for the challenge that they have started to unveil their own line of cream cheeses for $5.99 a container.
“We have always made our own, using Liberté as part of the mixture,” Steve told me. “Now we have pivoted to our own recipe and the response has been amazing!”
Presently they come in regular, scallion, lox, truffle, garlic & herb, and yes birthday cake. I can’t wait to try that one. Steve says they are also working on a cottage cheese one as well. I walked away with a container of lox. Manager Jeff Greenblatt insisted I also take a smoking hot fresh bagel. I got back to my office, cut the bagel in half and put on the spread. It was beyond delicious! Bravo Steve and company.
Liberté, we hardly knew you.
You can go to https://www.dizzsbagel.com/