Bagels are Community!

Back in the day, like so many Jewish families, bagels were a staple weekend breakfast in my family! Lox, Philadelphia cream cheese (sans fancy spreads of onion, chive, garlic, strawberry, blueberry, honey, cinnamon raisin, jalapeno, sun-dried tomato, pumpkin spice, bacon — A SHANDA!) with sliced onion, sliced tomatoes, (no capers yet!), often a side dish of smoke fish or white fish and accompanied with scrambled eggs! My mouth is watering!

I bet many of us can relate to the emotional memories that come with the gathering of loved ones around a lox and bagel meal. It’s almost like the feeling of downing a warm bowl of chicken soup — pure comfort with loved ones sharing food, everyone talking at once exchanging the week’s past events and reveling in the coziness of family and friends.

Have you ever been to a Shiva house where there were no bagels, probably not! Didn’t Zedeh’s and Bubbe’s kitchen always have bagels waiting for you?

Break-the-Fast always had a spot for a basket of bagels! As did a baby-naming and bris spread. When you didn’t know what to serve, well, you knew at a Mah Jong or poker game, there would be no left-over bagels!

So, when did Breakfast Burritos take the place of bagels at cafes? Who first exchanged bagels for Croissants on the morning menu?

The history of bagels has its own story as a cultural and social connector back to Poland in the early 17^th century! Who knew? They are first heard of as a gift to women after childbirth in Krakow in 1610. Who knew?

Soon, bagels made their way across Eastern Europe as a staple Jewish cuisine. As immigration waves of Jews came to America because of pogroms and economic issues in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, bagels came to North America rolling into their new home on the Lower East Side of New York City, which became the hub for bagel bakers.

Traditionally, bagels were boiled and then baked to create a chewy, dense texture. With the invention of the automated bagel-making machine, there were a variety of ways to now make bagels, and many were not boiled, which still offends true-blue bagel lovers!

Producing more bagels, the new machines resulted in mass production, lower prices and a need for small family bakeries and cafes, which created family businesses, some of which are still in business generations later! A Bagel Bakers’ union was formed in 1907 so New York Jewish bakers could control the industry and maintain “The art of hand-rolled and boiled bagels” rather than baked! Who knew?

After WWll and by the 1950s and 1960s, a shift was taking place where Jews didn’t have a lock on the bagel shops and bagels of all flavors spread beyond the Jewish community. New recipe flavors, beyond the egg, water or plain bagel, became very popular with onion, garlic, chive, cinnamon, blueberry, sesame, poppy and the iconic EVERYTHING BAGEL!

By the late 1960s and 1970s, bagels were no longer synonymous to the Jewish community and became a mainstream product available all over the country and world. Fortunately for us diehards, there has been a renewal of tradition for the hand-made-rolled-boiled bagels taking front stage in bakeries and cafes across the US!

One could argue with folks from New York, Los Angeles (NOT San Francisco as NORCAL people don’t know what traditional/good bagels or Mexican food is!), Miami, Philly, Chicago or Boston that they are the connoisseurs of the best donut-made-from-bread-dough because the bagel has become a beloved icon in American food culture. It’s not unusual to see all sorts of sandwiches made on a bagel! The Jews-of-old may be turning over in their graves if they knew you could order a BLT on a bagel! Oy vey!

Via our country’s culinary diversity, Baby Boomers may take a second glance (with no offense) seeing an Asian or Hispanic eating a bagel because we probably believe bagels and lox still belong to us Jews but realize that in the 21^st century BAGELS ARE COMMUNITY and have a notable history and are delicious enough to share with everyone!

PS: For some of us, the days are long gone of eating a true lox and bagel sandwich because of gluten and dairy issues! I’ve tried but nothing compares to a Western bagel (boiled) and real Philadelphia cream cheese! The gluten-free bagel and the dairy-free cream cheese just don’t cut the mustard!