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THIS DAILY BREAD IS EVERYTHING. HERE’S WHY WE HONOR BAGELS WITH THEIR OWN HOLE-IDAY
Let’s face it. When it comes to breakfast or brunch, we’re here for the schmear. As New Yorkers, there’s nothing better for breakfast than a soft, chewy, crusty New York bagel served hot and fresh with cream cheese, lox, capers, and red onion. There’s nothing basic about this breakfast.
The average New Yorker eats 111 bagels each year, so it’s no wonder there is an entire holiday devoted to this ringed bread. While we may celebrate this iconic Jewish bread 365 days a year, the rest of the country celebrates on National Bagel Day each January 15. Here’s everything you need to know to get bread-y for this food holiday.
Read More: The Best Bagels in New York City
When is National Bagel Day?
National Bagel Day is celebrated each year on January 15. It’s a food holiday that celebrates this iconic round bread with a hole in the middle. For more than a century, New Yorkers have indulged in bagels, which were brought by Polish Jewish immigrants.
Bagels are kettle boiled in water infused with sweet barley malt, then baked until they have a perfectly chewy crust. They are topped with cream cheese and appetizing toppings like lox, nova, or smoked whitefish salad.
National Bagel Day celebrates all kinds of bagels, including classic bagels, mini bagels, pizza bagels, and bagel sandwiches.
History of National Bagel Day
National Bagel Day was originally celebrated on the same day as National Lox Day on February 9. Since 2020, the beloved bagel has had its own food holiday.
Additional bagel holidays to put on your calendar include:
- February 9: National Lox Day
- July 26: National Bagelfest Day
How to Celebrate Bagel Day
There are many ways to celebrate National Bagel Day, including:
- Eating a bagel or flagel (flat bagel) for breakfast, a bagel sandwich for lunch, and pizza bagel for dinner.
- Trying a new flavored cream cheese like Bacon, Birthday Cake, Blueberry, Chocolate Chip, Nova, OREO, Plain, Raisin Walnut, Scallion, Strawberry, Tofu, or Vegetable.
- Trying a new bagel topping like lox (paper-thin sliced salmon that is barrel brined), nova lox, pastrami nova lox, smoked fish salad or whitefish salad.
- Trying different kinds of bagels, including classic New York bagels, sweeter Montreal-style bagels, or bagel-English muffin hybrid bialys.
- Hosting a bagel breakfast or brunch with family and friends.
- Trying to make your own bagels at home with DIY bagel kits.
Read More: What is a Bialy?
Famous Bagel Bakeries Across America
It’s a lox. We have the best bagels from New York and around the world. Take a bite out of these hot and crusty bagels.
Essa Bagel
For more than 35 years, Essa Bagel has been hand making one of the most ESS-ential bagels in New York City. Each iconic bagel is cut and rolled by hand before being kettle boiled. The result: chewy, crusty bagels with fresh schmears of the creamiest cream cheese. Bagel flavors include Plain, Everything, Whole Wheat Everything, 9 Grain with Honey, and Pumpernickel Raisin.
Zucker’s Bagels and Smoked Fish
Founded by New York native Matt Pomerantz two decades ago, Zucker’s Bagels & Smoked Fish is the quintessential NYC bagel shop where old traditions are combined with modernity. Here, the bagels are still made the old-fashioned way: hand-rolled, kettle-boiled, and seeded on both sides. Bagels are topped with slabs of cream cheese and slices of Everything Seeded Smoked Salmon, a nod to modern tastes.
Utopia Bagels
Since opening in Queens in 1980, Utopia Bagels has been making real-deal New York bagels. The team individually hand rolls each bagel, kettle-boils them, and then finishes them off in an oven built in 1947, yielding bagels that are soft and slightly chewy with a perfect crust and maltiness. Whether you choose Blueberry, Egg, French Toast, or Plain, each bagel is a perfect taste of NYC.
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