[lbo-talk] bagels/ethnicity

[Joel Schalit]

Noah's are responsible for the destruction of bagel culture in the US. 
The entire idea of chocolate and blueberry bagels is entirely due to 
them. Its all so Bay Area.
The single best OG bagel I've ever had was in Montreal. They're 
absolutely huge, and without any flavor additives. My old man, who went 
to school there in the late '40s,
says that the bagels in MTL have always been like this, and that its a 
direct import from eastern Europe. No Godzilla characteristics.

On Sep 9, 2006, at 12:10 PM, 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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