January 15- Celebrate National Bagel Day with these FUN FACTS about the Humble Bagel
Today (January 15) is National Bagel Day. Bagels have a history that is richer than your favorite schmear! Want to celebrate with a bagel brunch? The good news is these discs of dough can be found just about anywhere. The bagels highly documented history spans from the Jewish families of Poland in the 1600s to the eclectic sandwich-on-the-go wrapped up in parchment paper in your hands today. And, unlike many things created nearly five hundred years ago, bagels have remained remarkably unchanged. Sure, cream cheeses and butter and flavors and toppings may have evolved, but, throughout the years, a bagel is a beigel is a beygal.
Bagels first traveled to America with the massive Polish-Jewish immigration in the 1800s that firmly entrenched itself in New York City where both the immigrants and the food they brought with them thrived. The popularity of immigrant culture was so popular, a labor union was created in the early 1900s called Bagel Bakers Local 338 to support the growing, immigrant-led industry. That industry also created the “bagel brunch,” that we still enjoy to this day with little to no changes: lox, cream cheese, capers, tomatoes, and red onions.
While bagels were hugely popular in New York City almost immediately, it wasn't until the mid-20th-century that they made their way to national prominence where automation and bread slicing made mass manufacturing much more efficient. Since then, bagels have taken off to include a variety of flours, flavors, colors, toppings, dips, and schmears but remain – by and large – exactly as they were in the 1600s.
Even though we are a company dedicated to schmears, we must celebrate the doughy delicacy that helped inspire our business. We love to spread our schmears all over them, we love to share them and we love to enjoy them with a cup of freshly brewed coffee. With all there is to love about the bagel, there is a lot we don’t know about them. As we celebrate National Bagel Day, here are some facts about our beloved bagels that you probably didn’t know.
1) Bagel's backstory- The beginnings are unclear
The birth of the bagel is debated, largely because bagel-shaped bread has been around for centuries in various cultures. One legend suggests that the bagel was invented in 1683 as a stirrup-shaped tribute to Polish king Jan Sobieski after he defended Vienna from Turkish conquest. That claim has been debated by Maria Balinska, the author of The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread, points out that bagels look a lot like obwarzanek, a Polish bread that dates back to the late 1300s. Bagels became mainstream in the United States in the ’70s, though they had been sold in niche Jewish markets for several decades prior.
2) Bagels and birth- a celebrated "push present"
In some of the earliest mentions of bagels comes from the 1610 Community Regulations of Krakow, Poland, which indicated that women who had recently given birth should be presented with bagels as a suitable gift.
3) The Bagel is the only bread that is boiled before being baked
Unlike any other type of bread known to man, bagels are dipped in boiling water for approximately 3-5 minutes before going in the oven to get their golden exterior.
4) If it’s not round, it’s not a bagel
The word Bagel comes from the German word “bougel,” meaning “bracelet,” and by way of the Yiddish “beygl” which means “ring.” So while innovative bakers can let their imaginations run wild when it comes to flavors, the shape isn’t negotiable. If it is not in the shape of a ring or bracelet, it is NOT a bagel. Are you listening, "bagel stick"?
5) As long as it’s round, anything goes
Because there’s no legal “standard of identity” that dictates what a bagel must contain to be called a “bagel,” bakers who lack the proper respect for the bagel-making tradition can call any old bit of ring-shaped bread a bagel. Purists would consider these creations imposters- you, however, can decide for yourself..
6) The hole in the middle is important
Although bagels are shaped to match their name, the hole in the middle serves a few very important purposes. The hole increases the bagel’s surface area and allows for more crust formation and helps it cook faster. Additionally, bagel sellers used to place them on a wooden rod and sell them in city streets, so the hole was very helpful for that as well.
7) Montreal is famous for bagels
When most of us think of bagels, we automatically transport ourselves to the streets of New York. New York bagels are big with small holes. They’re boiled briefly before they’re baked—this step helps them maintain their chewy texture beneath their crunchy shell.
New York, however, isn’t the only North American bagel hotbed. Our Canadian friends in Montreal can lay claim to bagels that are delicious in their own right. Canada’s competing bagels are smaller and denser than their New York counterparts. What sets Montreal’s bagels apart from others is that they are boiled in honeyed water before baking in a wood-fire burning oven that lends the finished product a distinct flavor, crunch, and char. The result is a chewy, golden bagel that is more sweet than savory and folks in Montreal boast about it. We think that we need a café that will import both so we can compare side by side.
8) The biggest bagel on record was 868 pounds
Talk about carb-loading! According to the Guinness Book of World Records, in August, 2004, Bruegger’s Bagels produced a massive 868-pound bagel and displayed it at the New York State Fair. The larger-than-life creation required 1,100 pounds of dough, 900 gallons of water, and took 10 hours to bake. It still holds the record for the biggest bagel to date.
9) Hold the Coffee; Eat a Bagel
Have you ever found yourself in a rush and wishing that you can have an all-in-one breakfast that provides nutrition AND a morning boost? Well, thanks to molecular biologist Robert Bohannon, who invented the Buzzed Bagel in 2007, you can have your Bagel and your Coffee too!! The Buzzed Bagel is a bagel that contains the equivalent of two cups of coffee! This invention has been the inspiration for us to create our special edition coffee-infused schmears
10) Apple re-designed its bagel emoji
In honor of National Bagel Day, in early 2018 Thomas Bagels released an emoji keyboard. Forty breakfast-centric emojis were on it, including an avocado-topped bagel. Later that year, Apple finally released the bagel emoji on its platform—but not without controversy. After people complained that the plain bagel was "a monstrosity" with nothing on it, it got redesigned with cream cheese.
11) Did you know that Bagels went to space?
It’s safe to say that bagels from Fairmount Bagels in Montreal are out of this world. In 2008, Astronaut Greg Chamitoff boarded Discovery for a 14-day flight into space. What did he bring along on his trip to space? Eighteen bagels from Fairmount, a shop owned by his aunt. We're still waiting for someone to bring the first New York-style bagels into space. Get on it, astronauts!
12) Bagels’ quick preparation is a blessing to end the Sabbath
Bagels have been closely tied to the Jewish community since Polish and Russian immigrants brought the Eastern European staple "across the pond" to the New World. The bagel’s quick baking time made it a favorite in Jewish households on Saturday night after the Sabbath when the Sabbath ban on cooking ended. With minimal baking time to produce hot, fresh bagels, creating a post-Sabbath meal was easy.
13) Their recipe was once a trade secret
To protect immigrant workers attempting to meet New York’s growing demand for bagels, an International Beigel Bakers’ Union emerged in the early 1900s. Beigel Bakers’ Local 338 banded together 300 Manhattan bagel-makers to keep their tradition "in the family". In order to protect the integrity of the organization, only sons of current members could be offered spots in the union, and the group conducted its meetings almost entirely in Yiddish. The union’s monopoly on bagel baking ended only in the 1960s, with the invention of the automated bagel machine.
14) Bagel-making was once a group effort
Because of the precise process involved, bagel-makers in the early 1900s worked in teams of four. Two people would make the dough, giving bagels their shape; one person, the "kettleman" boiled them, and the fourth person, termed the "oven man" baked them to perfection.
15) The “everything” bagel may have been invented by a 15-year-old
Nailing down who invented certain foods can be a tricky task, but a New Yorker named Dave Gussin—who worked in a bagel shop in Howard Beach—told The New Yorker he invented the “everything bagel” back in 1980 at age 15. Gussin claimed he was sweeping seeds out of the oven and got the idea to combine them on a bagel. The shop then sold the “everything bagel” for an extra nickel. But, since the article came out, as expected, his claim has been contested, with another former bagel bakery worker declaring he made “everything” bagels in 1977. So basically, everyone seems to want credit for creating the “everything bagel.”
16) Do not confuse a Bialy with a Bagel
Don't want to lose toppings through the hole? Try a bialy. Based on the definition provided previously in this article, a bialy is not considered a bagel because it hasn't been boiled before being baked. A bialy, however, is a flavorful alternative that has an indent that's usually filled with cooked onions and sometimes topped with poppy seeds.
17) Bagel's popularity just keeps growing
According to Statista.com, 202.07 million Americans consumed bagels in 2020. This figure is expected to increase to over 205 million in 2024,
Celebrate National Bagel Day!
Now that you are a more educated bagel consumer, we hope you share some of these facts with anyone who'll listen and take time today and enjoy one in celebration of National Bagel Day! To make your celebration even more fulfilling, CLICK HERE to search for special deals related to National Bagel Day.
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