[Product Spotlight]

If you walk into a bakery and ask for "the round baked good with the hole in it," chances are you would get one of two things…either a donut or a bagel. Although both meet the description, you could end up greatly disappointed, as they are very different products. A bagel is made from yeasted wheat dough and is shaped into the form of a ring. Typically, it is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked, resulting in a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior. Bagels are often topped with seeds or salt baked on the outer crust. There are also a number of different dough types such as whole-grain or rye.

The bagel – also called the "roll-with-a-hole," "roll with personality" or "concrete doughnut" – is several cen-turies old. The basic shape facilitates even cooking and makes it possible to thread the product on a stick or string to allow for a convenient method of transport. The boiling step helps to preserve the bagel’s freshness, allowing it to be stored for longer periods than most other breads. These attributes may have helped promote the bagel’s early popularity. However, determining the real history of this product was quite the challenge.

One popular legend credits the bagel’s origin to a Viennese baker in 1683. As legend goes, the baker created a roll shaped like a horse’s stirrup (called a Steigbuegel) to honor the Polish cavalry that helped save that city from invading Turks. Other sources reveal that bagels may have been available in ancient Egypt, Rome and China centuries before then. We do know that in 17th-century Poland, the King issued a decree that elimin-ated the exclusive right of members of the "Krakow Bakers Guild" to produce bread products. This meant that Jews could finally bake breads for themselves. The bagel attained a special status for European Jews. Elders included bagels among the gifts to be given to midwives following the successful delivery of a baby. Since circular objects were thought to confer protection, bagels were served to celebrate circumcisions. They figured as well in rituals following death. These little rolls traveled eastward with German Jews, then crossed the ocean to the United States with the waves of Jewish immigrants who arrived in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The United States bagel industry was firmly established on the Lower East Side of New York City by the early 1900s, and a very powerful union controlled the industry for years. Then, in 1963, a man named Daniel Thompson invented a bagel-making machine and sold his invention to the owner of a soon-to-be famous bagel company in New Haven, Connecticut. Using this machine, the company could make bagels in a fraction of the previous time. The strangle-hold that New York City and the union had on bagel production was broken. This increase in production capacity, combined with the advent of frozen products, soon allowed the bagel to become a common product throughout the U.S. Bagel chain stores sprung up across the country and the lowly bagel was transformed from ethnic bread to an American staple.

In his article, A Secret History of the Bagel, Ari Weinzweig writes: "William Safire wrote in the New York Times in 1999, ‘A sea change in American taste took place at the beginning of this decade. The bagel overtook the donut in popularity. Today we spend three-quarters of a billion dollars a year on bagels, only a half-billion on donuts.’ As Mr. Safire, who is Jewish, also wrote, ‘Although these baked goods are similar in shape, they are wholly different in character. Donuts are sweet and crumbly, with over 10 grams of fat; bagels are chewy and low in fat. Donuts are fun, with sugary smiles, sales peaking at Halloween; bagels are serious, ethnic and harder to digest.’ I’d agree on all counts."

Since Mr. Weinzweig’s article suggested some nutritional characteristics, I thought it would be interesting to see what a nutrition facts panel for an average bagel may look like. Compared to the measurements of similar nutritional characteristics for donuts, diet-conscious consumers would probably opt for the bagel.

GLOBAL IMPACT

Bagels are truly a global food. Many countries have their own unique versions of this bakery product. In Russia it is called "bubliks," in Finland, "vesirinkeli." Turkey calls it "simit," Austria, "beugel" and in Romania it is the "covrigi." While the name and its place in the local dietary scheme may change, it appears that basic physical characteristics, round with a hole, remain the same worldwide.

Modern bagels may vary significantly from those made from older and more traditional recipes. Today’s bagels may not be boiled before baking and may be made from dough that produces a less dense, less chewy product. Dough flavors and various toppings are often added. Bagels may be garnished with a variety of spreads and they can even be used as rolls to make sandwiches. You can find dozens of recipes to make bagels with many different flavors, textures and other characteristics.

Despite their similar shape and the fact that they are sometimes sold in sweet goods shops, bagels are definitely not donuts! Their true history may be a mystery and the traditional bagel may be buried among all those newer varieties, but they remain one of the more popular modern-day bread products. AIB

The author, a 25-year veteran of the food processing industry, is an auditor for AIB International.