According to an old proverb, the optimist sees the bagel, the pessimist the hole, but the question of which came first – the bagel or the hole? – has long been chewed over by gourmet-philosophers. The precise history of the roll with a hole is a mystery, but they were first officially recorded in 17th century Krakow in Poland, when they were given to pregnant women as a nutricious delicacy made from costly white flour, and were also considered lucky because the shape represented the circle of life.
They travelled to the west in the culinary baggage of 19th century Jewish immigrants, and although the basic recipe remains the same – a hand-shaped roll which is boiled then baked – different regions have evolved subtle variations on a theme.
Standing tall above all other variations, New York’s delicious puffy, dough-like bagels, flavoured with anything from onion to raisins have become the ultimate gourmet snack for a city that knows what it likes.
