Violating traditional practices can lead to dreck or lead to pizza!
Cookery (which includes bagles) is an ever evolving art; it's fun to experiment. A friend of my sister's was mucking around and came up with one of the most delicious concoctions I've ever tasted (consisting of olive oil, diced tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and feta). Now this is either a crime against Romanian tradition or the most wonderful thing you've ever tasted.
At the same time, we live in a capitalist world whose survival depends on infinite diversifications, on creating urges you never knew you had. So, add that to the mix.
Buy the bagels you like and fogeddaboutit.
Joanna
Jesse Lemisch wrote:
>Yesterday, having no other resources, I bought a bagel at Gristedes. It
>turned out to be covered with specks of salt, as if the people who made it
>had thought they were making a pretzel.
>
>This leads me to some speculations and questions about bagels and ethnicity.
>Far from a Jewish nationalist myself, I do feel that what has become of the
>bagel is an offense against ethnicity, particularly here on the upper West
>Side, and similar offenses against other ethnicities would bring angry
>responses. H & H (Hispanic) are highly sugared; Absolute (Thai) -- along
>with most other sources -- lacks the traditional hardness on the surface
>(during WWII there were jokes about Jewish bombardiers dropping bagels on
>the enemy). It may be that Jewish-made bagels have also deteriorated.
>
>My questions:
>
>were there traditional bagels that were salt covered?
>is it wrong for me to be a traditionalist in regard to bagels?
>What do people think of current bagels?
>Can people cite similar crimes against other ethnic foods? (Chinese
>restaurants up here in Szechuan Valley are terrible, but they are
>Chinese-operated, so this deterioration can't be seen as an attack by other
>ethnics.)
>
>This is not so much of a fetish with me that I am willing to travel out of
>my neighborhood (99th-112th St.) in pursuit of the Perfect Bagel. Just
>curious.
>
>Jesse Lemisch
>
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