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• First thing’s first: What is a bagel? “A bagel is a round bread, with a hole in the middle, made of simple ingredients: high-gluten flour, salt, water, yeast and malt. Its dough is boiled, then baked, and the result should be a rich caramel color; it should not be pale and blond. A bagel should weigh four ounces or less and should make a slight cracking sound when you bite into it. A bagel should be eaten warm and, ideally, should be no more than four or five hours old when consumed. All else is not a bagel.”
• If you’ve heard that old yarn about bagels being created in 17th-century Poland as a tribute to King Jan Sobieski after he saved Austria from Turkish invaders at the battle of Vienna in 1683, well … it’s a load of old toss. The origins came prior to this supposed event, and most experts agree that the origin of the word “bagel” probably came from the Yiddish beigen, to bend.
• But why bend it in the first place? The bagel may be a cousin of the pretzel, although its singular shape may also have helped those selling bagels to carry bunches of them on sticks.
• Bagels come in about every variety one can dream up. From the well-known Everything Bagel to the “buzzed” bagel for when you need some caffeine with your caffeine in the morning. And let us not forget this likely first casualty of the recession: the $1,000 bagel (no, it doesn’t have gold chips but it darn well should!)
• Hmmm, the greatest thing since sliced bread might be … a sliced bagel! Lender’s popularized the sliced bagel, and eventually came out with a frozen variety as well. Today some bagels are so hardy they can even survive space.
• Do you love bagels? I mean really, really love bagels? Seriously now … LOVE BAGELS? Apparently you can turn your face into one.
• But what’s a bagel without cream cheese? Cream cheese was discovered accidentally in 1872 by a New York dairyman trying make Neufchatel. It was originally packaged in foil just as it can be found today.
• For those who don’t relish (or are too lazy to) schmear, there is now the option of the cream cheese-filled bagel.
• Finally, in case you were wondering: could eating poppyseed bagels make you fail a drug test? Yes!
• You know what comes next: how do you Flossers most enjoy your bagels? Nothing is better to me than a whole wheat bagel generously schmeared with cream cheese and lox, lox and more lox!
Hungry for more? Venture into the Dietribes archive.
‘Dietribes’ appears every other Wednesday. Food photos taken by Johanna Beyenbach You might remember that name from our post about her colorful diet.
Comments (24)
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Second choice (after cream cheese on my bagel) is Virginia baked ham and domestic Swiss cheese toasted on my bagel. OMG!
posted by Hyacinth on 10-7-2009 at 12:50 pm
cream cheese, lox, red onion, tomato, capers. = HEAVEN
also good, but NY bagel blasphemy: avocado, olive oil, sea salt, black pepper.
posted by roo on 10-7-2009 at 1:03 pm
Everything bagel with veggie cream cheese. mmmm mmmm good
posted by Caitlin on 10-7-2009 at 1:26 pm
I have eaten a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast every morning for the last five years, give or take a few traveling days.
I prefer my plain bagel with plain cream cheese, not toasted, thank you. (toasting RUINS a fresh bagel!) But I will try just about anything. Einstein Bro.’s has a great Jalapeno cream cheese that I enjoy on an asiago bagel. Yum!
posted by Lynnie on 10-7-2009 at 1:30 pm
So let me get this straight.. You start out with a strict definition of bagel, then detail a a number of things which violates that definition..
If you are going to be ana1, be ana1 about it.
posted by anomdebus on 10-7-2009 at 1:39 pm
Anomdebus, as you can see the definition is a quote from another source. Take it or leave it, it’s just one way to think about what makes a bagel. Obviously, going by that, none of us have probably ever had a proper one! Lighten up ;)
posted by Allison Keene on 10-7-2009 at 1:43 pm
Lynnie – I totally agree that a fresh bagel shouldn’t be toasted! Of course it IS a handy way to make an older bagel still tasty. (sigh) I wish I could get truly fresh bagels around here! I would love it
posted by Allison Keene on 10-7-2009 at 1:44 pm
My deli sells the ‘addiction bagel’ – bagel, with scallion cream cheese, nova, red onion and tomato.
My brother in law has been dreaming about bagels since he was a kid. He finally opened his own bagel store in Rochester NY (Balsam Bagels). Click on my name for a link. He’s got lots of Bagel info and photos. If you ever get a chance try his French Toast Bagel.
Gee I already ate lunch and now I am really hungry!
posted by Stew on 10-7-2009 at 2:12 pm
Dangit, I couldn’t get past “First thing’s first.” Another sign of the Apostrolypse!
I recognize my anti-misused-apostrophe dementia.
posted by Seth on 10-7-2009 at 2:13 pm
Blueberry bagel, toasted with Chevre (lactose intolerant, otherwise it’d be strawberry cream cheese!). Yumm. Unfortunately, there is a definite dearth of good (or maybe even bad) bagels in San Antonio. I think it’s our fascination with breakfast tacos. *sigh*
Every time I think or hear about bagels and cream cheese, I’m reminded of the Foamy cartoon called “5 Minutes”, which is about getting a bagel and cream cheese (that squirrel loves those things).
posted by nutmeag on 10-7-2009 at 2:25 pm
Personally, a toasted everything bagel with scrambled eggs, melted American cheese, grilled Spam, and topped with tomato and baby spinach does it for me.
Otherwise, PB & J works as well.
posted by Steve from San Diego on 10-7-2009 at 3:09 pm
I live in the boonies and became so desperate for a decent (read: not friggin frozen) bagel that I learned how to make them. I was intimidated at first but encourage everyone who loves those rounds of goodness to give it a try. Trust me, they taste so much better when you’ve made them yourself.
posted by Keeker on 10-7-2009 at 3:32 pm
If I could pick one food that magically had no calories, fresh bagels just might make that spot. YUM. Also delicious- Montreal bagels- they taste different and I’m not sure why, but worth the try. Hard to find outside Montreal and South Florida.
posted by emmie c on 10-7-2009 at 3:40 pm
Bagels, most kinds, esp. onion and everything are great. Must be toasted, needs good cream cheese, unless its a real egg bagel. Those just need butter. Good with Latkes
posted by Anne on 10-7-2009 at 5:11 pm
I thought this article would be about the restaurant chain in Boston.
posted by Correy on 10-7-2009 at 6:21 pm
Red onion and tomatoes on a plain bagel. But the bagel must be fresh (no grocery store shelf breads, thank you) and the tomatoes must be home-grown (which somewhat limits the time frame in which I can have this most perfect of meals, since the Chicago growing season is about two weeks long…)
posted by Esther on 10-7-2009 at 6:29 pm
Buttered and fried…Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!
posted by Paul on 10-7-2009 at 7:00 pm
Since airlines stopped serving food, I never get on a plane without a bagel an a shmear. It’s perfect, as it doesn’t crunch, doesn’t crumb, it’s filling, cheap, and isn’t stinky (nothing but consideration for my fellow inmates- er, fliers).
At home, I’ll occaisionally to toast a bagel, and then put butter AND cream cheese, but I wouldn’t admit to that in public.
posted by sroz on 10-7-2009 at 7:22 pm
I know it’s off topic but since it was mentioned… is Lee Lee Sobieski a descendant of King Jan?
Perhaps someone can write an article on celebrities with royal/noble connections?
posted by bigfatmeanie on 10-7-2009 at 9:41 pm
I like mine toasted with peanut butter, it gets all melty gooey…mmm.
I also like to toast them, spritz them with olive oil and heavily salt them – kinda like a pretzel when I can’t get a pretzel.
reCap: pre-shockers… hmm
posted by Eric on 10-7-2009 at 10:40 pm
Toasted cinnamon raisin bagel with butter and honey.
*schmacks*
posted by Helenann on 10-8-2009 at 10:04 am
I love the tstreet at bagel shack in san Clemente, ca. It have chive cream cheese, red onion, and tomato, on what else but an everything bagel! I had one a half hour ago!!!
posted by Ian on 10-8-2009 at 1:23 pm
Spread with cream cheese (and maybe sliced cheddar too) and broiled until bubbly and golden brown!
Cream cheese & fruit spread.
Egg, cheese, spinach, & tomato sandwich. Pizza bagel.
Peanut butter topped.
posted by Nerak on 10-8-2009 at 1:35 pm
=( I am DYING for a good bagel now! Why must you torture me so??
I had no idea what a “good bagel” was until about 2 years ago when I started dating my bf and his father, who works in NYC, would give us bagels each time we visited. I soooo disagree about toasting ruining a fresh bagel. Bagels are best fresh AND toasted. That way they are crunchy and chewy and oooooh sooooo good. mmmmmm…. I stick to cream cheese (preferably whipped) and sometimes add a little butter as well.. that started bc I was so indecisive that I would put butter on 1/2 and cream cheese on the other half. I put the 2 halves together to carry it with me and discovered something magical!
posted by BioloBri on 10-9-2009 at 2:10 pm