Boy do I miss bagels — there's nothing quite like those Big Os of Chewy Dough.

Boy do I miss bagels — there's nothing quite like those Big Os of Chewy Dough.

Bagels are to Americans what croissants are to Belgians — indispensable. They're the perfect breakfast food and a favorite snack to have with a cup of coffee. Just like croissants in Belgium, bagels are ubiquitous in the US. You can buy them anywhere and everywhere

However, that's where all similarities end between the two classic foods. Croissants are light, airy and buttery — flaky and tender. Bagels are dense and chewy with a unique shiny crust and they never leave a crumb on your plate. Croissants are normally served at room temperature, but bagels are best toasted and buttered, though unheated and smeared with cream cheese is OK too.

While the only variation on croissant I see here is chocolate-filled, bagels come in a wide variety of flavors from sweet to savory to exotic. Onion, garlic, cheese and poppy seed bagels compete with cinnamon, raisin, blueberry and chocolate chip. Unusual flavors like pumpkin and cranberry turn up in the fall and Tex Mex tastes and California cuisine have sent jalapeno peppers and sun-dried tomatoes into the bagel dough. Sweet or spicy, they're all good, but my favorite is the basic-but-never-boring honey wheat bagel. Just typing the name makes me sigh with longing.

In general, America isn't known for its outstanding bread bakeries and our croissants are pathetic, but nearly every good-sized town has a bakery devoted just to making bagels. I was surprised to discover that despite all the bakeries dotting the landscape in Belgium, none that I've visited have sold bagels, which originated not in America but in Eastern Europe.

Popular history dates bagels to the 17th century, when a Jewish baker in Austria produced the first bagel for the King of Poland to thank him for saving his country from a Turkish invasion. Because the King was an accomplished horseman, the first bagel was shaped like a stirrup, and its name derived from the German word for stirrup, 'bugel'.

Bagels arrived in the US with waves of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe in the late 19th century. Not surprisingly, New York established itself as the center of bagel consumption and production. In the early 20th century, bagel bakers formed their own union and initially only the sons of the union members were allowed to apprentice and join. New York bagels remain the gold standard for which all others are judged.

Bagel baking is both an art and a science. Bagels originate with yeast dough that is shaped into rings and then cooked in simmering water before being baked in the oven. Early in my marriage, when I still found the domestic arts fascinating, I tried my hand at bagel making. It was a time-consuming and disappointing endeavor.  It's no wonder that bagels weren't mass produced until the 1960s. Bagel making is a tricky business and automating the process wasn't easy.

Back in the US, I had a favorite bagel shop where I'd often stop in the morning for a cup of joe and a buttered bagel. A loner by nature, the bagel shop gave me a place to be with others and yet be by myself. I loved to move through the long queue and then sit at the counter with my purchase and unfold the morning paper. Whenever work colleagues needed to get together informally to discuss projects, we met at the bagel shop. I often took my kids there to do their homework after school. In December, I sipped coffee and wrote my Christmas cards from a table there, careful not to let butter drip onto the envelopes. Sometimes I edited articles while I sat watching the door swing open and shut.  I knew all the staff by face if not by name. The bagel shop was the closest thing I've ever had to a hang-out.

I knew I'd miss the shop when we moved, but I had no idea I wouldn't be able to get bagels in Belgium. (I've tried the ones sold at the commissary bakery in Chievres but alas, they're not like the ones at home.) Bagels were the last food I ate before flying to Brussels in March 2005 and I'm sure they'll be the first food I request when I get back to America.

Long live the Big O's!

8 June 2006

V-Grrrl

© 2006 Veronica McCabe Deschambault. All rights reserved.