When (really!) did bagels get out of control?

[Midlife]

I was just looking at the topic about shipping bagels and realized that I have no idea when and where bagels actually began to get so unbelievably 'bastardized' (please pardon the term, but it seems correct for this question).

I'm a firm believer that bagels are one of those things that carry with them a lot of personal background, ethnicity and geographical issues when deciding what makes a good one. Personally, I don't consider much beyond water, egg and salt to be 'real' bagels, though I enjoy onion, poppy seed, an occasional everything bagel, and really like a 'vegetable' (red & green peppers) bagel at a local hangout. But....................... when and where did everything from blueberries to jalapeños get into the act.

I grew up in in Queens, New York and my aunt used to take the subway and bus on Sundays laden down with things from Ratner's. That was in the '50's, and I really doubt that there was anything beyond the original three varieties and an occasional bialy at that time.

Seriously.............................. ;o)))

[MikeB3542]

In my book, bagels should be a savory, not a sweet. Onion, garlic, sesame, poppy, and salt are my favorites. Not Jewish, but I remember liking to go to downtown Chicago early in the morning with my mom to get an egg bagel at Davidson's Bakery on State and Washington. Delicious, un-toasted, un-split and un-schmeared with cream cheese -- they were so fresh it was un-necessary. Yum!

What's worse than a sweet, over-sized bread bomb of a bagel? How about one slathered with sickly sweet pasty cream cheese spread. Blech!

[Steve]

What I don't get is why supermarkets always make too many blueberry, whole wheat, jalapeno, asiago, and other 'wierdo' bagels, and not enough sesame bagels. Go late at night and there are always those strange bagels left over. But don't go early enough, and all the sesame bagels are gone. Imagine all the customers throughout the day who are not buying because all that's left are the wierdos.

[tcamp]

I don't know for sure but 23 years ago, I encountered some pretty hilarious bagels in Rochester, MN. Gigantic, soft and puffy, cake like texture. And I'm no bagel expert but even then I knew they were wrong.

[Lois Mills]

Exactly! I was born in 1936 and grew up in the Bronx and In those days it was a "Jewish food" only, and bagels were hand-made and delicious. When the rest of America started eating them, the other varieties came about. You can find the more authentic version in only a few places (definitely not H and H, which are terrible). Elsewhere, I wrote about the Bagel Hole in Park Slope, whose bagels are smaller and not puffy and sweet. Definitely worth investigating (Seventh Avenue and Fourteenth Street). Fortunately, my daughter lives there, so I can have good bagels all the time. Other than that, I ask for thin bagels, well baked or flagels, which are different, but also good.
Lois

[Cathy]

I remember getting "Fragels"- fried cinnamon raisin bagels dusted with sugar in Ann Arbor.

1975.

[Karl S]

The advent of the bread doughnut.

[runwestierun]

It's the same with donuts. Voodoo Donuts in Portland makes a donut with pink PeptoBismol frosting dotted with fruity discs of Rolaids.

[Karl S]

The early-mid '80s saw the widespread plague of the following bad bagel trends:

1. Steaming instead of boiling
2. Sugar or other sweeteners instead of malt, which shift made for a faster rise and blander, airier bagel
3. Sweet flavoring (shudder) - btw, one sign of the trend was the elimination of classics like the salt bagel.
4. A preference for bagels that were bigger, more breadlike (airier) and less chewy/dense and that and did not start staling within a half-day. Bagels almost doubled in size.

The more like regular bread it is, the more it's simply a bread doughnut, not a bagel.

The decline of hard rolls and pizza were to follow in this wake.

And then there's the vanishing of wonderful things like real bialys, pletzels/onion boards, salt sticks, et cet. Oh, and classic NY "corn rye".

[nofunlatte]

The decline of hard rolls is very sad :( I just don't get this obsession with squishiness. I do understand that some soft breads are delicious, but jeez lou-eez, must everything be spongy?

Chocolate chips and jalapeño peppers do not belong on a bagel. And I'm not even a purist.

[Karl S]

Yes, a good bagel should hurt your jaw and feel like lead in your stomach, and should start staling within hours after baking (good hard rolls and baguettes share this last quality - if you have any of these and they are still pretty fresh the next day, it's not a really good version....)

[nofunlatte]

And tearing up the roof of your mouth is also a good sign!

[small h]

The first time I remember seeing blueberry bagels was around 1985, in New Jersey. And I'm not very observant, so I bet the madness started even earlier.

[jeanmarieok]

My very first trip to NYC in 1988, I ate a cinnamon raisin bagel, from a street vendor. I think I never only had a choice of three bagels - it's always been more since I can remember.

And while I don't consider Panera's cinnamon crunch bagel to be particularly authentic, I do enjoy it every now then, as a sweet treat.

[ernie in berkeley]

I date it from the development of the steaming machines, mid-1980s. Prior to that, bagels were boiled, then baked. Now they are steamed first. I suspect that blueberries, chocolate chips, etc. might not do well in boiling water.

[ipsedixit]

When Einstein's and Noah's formed their dastardly partnership in their relentless effort to takeover bagels shops across the country. Probably circa 1995.

[mrbigshotno.1]

Cranberry walnut bagels, BLAHHHHHH!!!

[nofunlatte]

About 15-20 years ago, if not longer. At least.