The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread (Hardcover)

~ Ms. Maria Balinska (Author)
Key Phrases: bagel bakers, bagel hole, frozen bagels, New York, Lower East Side, Jan Sobieski (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From the Italian ciambella in a 17th-century portrait of a young prince to the 1959 album Bagels and Bongos by pianist Irving Fields, journalist and BBC radio editor Balinska traces the cultural identity of a New York City icon from its humble beginnings in Poland to the freezer section of American supermarkets. Balinska's own interest in the bagel began with a year spent in Warsaw, Poland, as a graduate student, where she learned that her own family history was relevant to that of the bagel. She then unearths a plethora of little-known facts about this breakfast staple, recounting its role in children's nursery rhymes, Poland's economic crisis of 1929, even its place in a McCall's magazine spread in 1963 next to Shirley Temple where the magazine encouraged its readers to Join the stars below in this salute to Manhattan's most popular breakfast—bagels and lox. While the book may be too dry for the run-of-the- mill bagel lover, academics and dedicated foodies will appreciate Balinska's considerable research as well as her forays into the late 19th-century Jewish immigrant experience and American pop culture. Photos. (Nov.)
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From Booklist

The bagel may have grown out of its New York insularity to become an American icon, but its origins are not what many people have come to believe. Historian Balinska traces the bagel’s history and discovers antecedents in southern Italy and in Muslim northwest China. Despite the oft-repeated legend, the bagel did not originate as a tribute to Polish king Jan Sobieski after the Battle of Vienna in 1683, for documents citing the ring-shaped bread substantially antedate that event. In the nineteenth century, both Jewish and Gentile bakers sold bagels in local eastern European markets. Jewish immigrants brought the bagel to New York and made it popular. With a keen ear for telling the anecdote, Balinska reports how the bagel entered urban history, how it figured in labor disputes, and how America’s bagel capital may have shifted to Mattoon, Illinois, whose bakery daily turns out three million bagels. --Mark Knoblauch

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1 edition (November 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300112297
• ISBN-13: 978-0300112290
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #505,325 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars History-Lite., November 27, 2008

By	Gerard J. St John (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This short book (195 pages) does not purport to be a definitive history of the bagel. As the author notes, the bagel is a modest bread made of commonly available ingredients, flour, water and eggs. It should not be surprising that many people throughout history have mixed these ingredients into a dough that is boiled and then baked in a circular shape with a hole in the middle. Similar foodstuffs have been found in many places, including China and Italy. This book focuses on the bagels of the Jewish bakers in Poland and in the United States. It is history-lite.

Actually, it is "histories-lite." It presents a series of summary histories. It tells the story of Jan Sobieski's military victory, lifting the siege of Vienna in 1683. It tells the story of the hard-working bakers and the impoverished peddlers of bagels in the cities of Poland for more than two centuries. It tells the story of the Jewish immigrant bakers in the lower east side of New York City. It tells the role of the Polish Jews in the labor movement in the first half of the 1900s, a movement that pitted capitalism against socialism. And it tells how the Lender brothers guided their bagel baking company into a multi-million dollar business.

Together, these summary histories provide clear snapshots of the lives of people who are not usually mentioned in traditional history books. The book is well written and well worth reading.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Bagel's Eye View of Cultural Change With Humor and Some Memorable Lines, December 16, 2008

By	David Crumm "Editor of www.ReadTheSpirit.com" (Canton, Michigan) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Let me respectfully add a word of context to the "History-Lite" review on this page. Maria Balinska, a veteran journalist with the BBC, is the first to admit that her bagel book is not an exhaustive history of all elements related to the bagel. There's an important scholarly tradition now of pursuing such threads through the centuries. If you're looking for such a study, one of the classics in the field is Fernand Braudel's still awesome "Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century, Vol. I: The Structure of Everyday Life (Civilization and Capitalism : 15th-18th Century)." (And, yes, Braudel does write a lot about bread.)

That's not the point of "The Bagel." This slim and fascinating volume is aimed at reminding readers that -- as surprising as it may seem to many men and women -- something as simple as a bagel can become a colorful window into the evolving nature of Jewish culture especially in Europe and North America.

And more than that, what's so great about exploring threads of religious and ethnic identity like this? Well, the story of bagels in America also is a part of American Baby Boomer experience, whatever your faith may be. Like a lot of other Baby Boomers, I vividly recall discovering the exotic delight of bagels in the early 1970s and watching this distinctive treat go mainstream throughout my own adult life. Similarly, Jewish Americans have moved more prominently into the American mainstream during those decades.

The author is well aware of the scholarly giants in the field of cultural history and culinary evolution. She readily points out that she's not trying to outdo the Braudels in this field. Rather, her book is a talented journalist's tribute to the enlightenment we all can find in exploring the stuff of everyday life that we all too often take for granted.

Plus, as a lifelong journalist myself, I can tell you that I finished the book with a dozen corners of pages folded over, marking anecdotes and great lines that I plan to share with others. This book is that fun.

4.0 out of 5 stars Delicious Nostalgia, March 9, 2009

By	Jan Raven (Kensington, MD) - See all my reviews

A delightful trip down memory lane for all displaced New Yorkers and a perfect gift book for the hostess next time you're invited for a brunch of bagels and lox.