In the United States, Murray Lender said the bagel has long been synonymous with New York and Jewish bakers like his father. My dad's bakery at first specialized in bread and rolls, and on the weekends they made this specialty product called a bagel, which was eaten by Jews on the weekend as a way to break the week and relax a little bit with something special. They developed a kind of Sunday morning brunch concept with bagels and cream cheese and smoked salmon. Lender says he is an eternal optimist, but admits even he was surprised when bagels bypassed the English muffin in sales many years ago. But about three or four years ago, we bypassed the doughnut.
Today there are more bagels consumed in America than doughnuts.
That is way beyond my greatest hopes. Plus bagels can be used with a variety of toppings, from butter and jelly to salsa and cheese. Perhaps that flexibility is what makes plain bagels somewhat more popular than their flavored cousins which are often filled with cinnamon and raisins or blueberries. A variety of bagel flavors are now available in Abilene-area grocery stores, as well as in most supermarket bakeries, where they are baked fresh daily. At United Supermarkets, for example, the bakery uses frozen dough that comes pre-shaped in bagel forms.