Bagels

A Ring of Dough and Culture

My simple, go-to breakfast/brunch. Includes a fresh egg bagel with a butter spread. October 15, 2023. Photo by Courtney Klar.

By Courtney Klar

As I tiredly made my way down the stairs in the morning, I caught a glimpse of the brown, paper bag carrying a doughy aroma that tingled my nose. All of a sudden, I got a pep in my step. At the crack of dawn, my dad went out and bought fresh bagels. The best start to my Saturday. Whether I am celebrating a holiday, visiting family in New York, or enjoying a nice breakfast or lunch from my favorite deli, bagels are there for it all. My family contains some picky eaters, but bagels are never a question. Lunch discussions turn to arguments, but when my dad says, “I can pick up some bagels,” we go quiet. No one can refuse the doughy, yet crisp creation that is a bagel. The only struggle is deciding which type we want because of the endless combinations of toppings and spreads. As a Jew with Polish ancestry, bagels are engraved in my culture.

Bagels are not your average bread. Most bread is baked, but bagels are first boiled. During the Middle Ages, Christians believed that Jews should not be allowed to buy or bake bread. Then, it was announced that bread is only baked, so the Jews figured out a new way to prepare their wheat, which was by boiling it in water; this created the first bagels (Frank 53). This boiling method separates the shiny outer crust from the chewy interior of the bagel. If your bagel is fluffy and airy, you are doing it wrong. The ring of dough is known to have originated in different countries under different names; however, the history of what we’ve come to know as the bagel has its strongest roots in Poland, where its name derived from the Yiddish word beigel (Goodman). The bagel began its global voyage in 1882, migrating from Eastern Europe to the United States along with the mass exodus of Jews (Clowes).

One of my favorite lunch orders from 2nd Street Deli and Bagels, especially if I want some protein. Includes egg and cheese on a toasted egg bagel. February 5, 2023. Photo by Courtney Klar.

I was born in the breeding grounds of the bagel, New York. There is a well-known theory that New York bagels are better because of the New York City water supply. In reality, that water contains just about every contaminant (Frank 53). For some odd reason, New York bagels just look plumper and taste denser. The first bagel bakeries in New York were in Jewish areas and had extremely poor working conditions. Unions had strong involvement in New York, and Jews only wanted to buy bagels that had union labels on them. “By the 1930s the Bagel Bakers Union had won the right to represent the workers of every one of the thirty or so bagel bakeries in New York City” (Goodman). Bagel distribution was limited to Jewish neighborhoods in New York, which is how it became embedded in my family and religion.

On Yom Kippur, Jews fast from sunset to sunset; after the second sunset, we have Break Fast. At Break Fast, it is tradition to have a table full of bagels and spreads. Seeing the assortment, smelling the fresh dough, touching the shiny crust and dense interior, and tasting the bagel after fasting for 25 hours is an incredible experience. With your senses heightened from hunger, the bagel seems like the most perfect and desirable food in the world. There is everything, plain, cinnamon raisin, sesame, whole wheat, egg, and more; the indecision is the only downside.

The assortment of bagels at my favorite bagel shop, 2nd Street Deli and Bagels, in my hometown, Boca Raton, Florida. October 14, 2023. Photo by Courtney Klar.

Even when it is not a Jewish holiday, eating bagels with my family is always a great time. It is a food we can all enjoy. While bagels have a very ethnic history, overtime they became less about religion and more about creating a common ground among people of all cultures. “Today people of all nationalities enjoy bagels, although they are significantly different, being bigger, plumper and softer” (Clowes). Although my family is apart for most of the year, I look forward to continuing to eat bagels with them and passing on our traditions to future generations. Whenever I bite into a nice, hefty bagel, I will always think of my family and our roots.

Works Cited

Clowes, Florence Waszkelewicz. “The Bagel.” Polish American Journal, National ed., vol. 98, no. 3, Buffalo, N.Y: Polish - American Journal.

Frank, Matthew Gavin. “At the Center of the Center of the New York Bagel.” Gastronomica, vol. 13, no. 4, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 51–55, doi:10.1525/gfc.2013.13.4.51.

Goodman, Matthew. “The Rise and Fall of the Bagel.” Harvard Review (Cambridge, Mass. 1992), no. 28, Cambridge: Houghton Library of the Harvard College Library, pp. 91–99.

Klar, Courtney. Assortment of bagels at local deli and bagel shop. 14 Oct. 2023. Author’s personal collection.

Klar, Courtney. Egg and cheese on an egg bagel. 5 Feb. 2023. Author’s personal collection.

Klar, Courtney. Egg bagel with butter. 15 Oct. 2023. Author’s personal collection.

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