What is a bagel? Some children asked me this years ago when I first read Mr Belinsky's Bagels to them, but now I sometimes see them in lunchboxes because they are now much easier to find in Australia. Of course we don't have as much choice as you might get in New York, but we certainly can enjoy sweet and savoury ones here. When my children were small my son used to love the blueberry bagels and my daughter liked them to be plain but have cream cheese and smoked salmon on them.
Bagels originated in Poland, many centuries ago. Bread was considered one of the most holy foods, and under Jewish dietary restrictions, bread could not be eaten until after hands were washed and a blessing was read. At this time, most Jews earned their living as peddlers, so when traveling the countryside they usually couldn’t eat bread because clean water was rarely available.
Boiling before baking made bagels fall out of the category of traditional bread. Therefore, Jewish people were able to eat this type of bread without having to go through the usual religious rituals of hand washing and blessing the bread before eating. Polish immigrants took bagels to America and now we can buy them all over the world.
Why celebrate them with a day to themselves? Unfortunately, no one really knows who invented National Bagel Day. All that’s really known is that it was started sometime during the 2000s. The only thing that’s really known is that whoever created it gave us a good excuse to eat a bagel! And read about them...
Fun facts
• Bagels are always round
• Bagels are boiled before they are baked
• The name bagel comes from the German word “bougel,” a name which means bracelet.
Now read:
• Mr. Belinsky's Bagels by Ellen Schwartz and Stefan Czernecki
• Bagels from Benny by Aubrey Davis and Susan Petricic
• Barking Bagels by Michael Rosen and Tony Ross
• The Bagel King by Andrew Larson and Sandy Nichols
• Where on Earth is My Bagel? by Frances and Ginger Park and Grace Lin
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