Are bagels actually Jewish? This is one of the questions I hear most often from people discussing Jewish food. The answer, of course, is yes (or it wouldn’t be on this podcast). But tune in to find out how and why.
More importantly, the changes that took place to the bagel once it reached American shores, and truly reached its iconic status, reflects the specific character of that country’s Jews. What made American Jewry different from the communities that existed back in the Europe from which most of them came?
Interview: Hasia Diner
Episode Notes
Maria Balinska’s book, The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread
A blog post I wrote in which I address the disingeuous misrepresentation of Balinska’s claims in service of an alternate claim about bagels.
One version of the incorrect Jan Sobieski/bagel legend
More examples of culinary mythology
About obwarzanek
Video about obwarzanek, referring to them as Polish bagels
Shaul Stampfer article, “Bagel and Falafel”
On the Bagel Bakers Union
The Lenders Bagels story
Examples of commercially sold Bagel Chips
The controversial hole-less bagel in Montreal
Hasia Diner. And her book, Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration.
Send This Post Around the World, Like the Bagel's Bread Around its Hole