On bagels and culinary oxymorons
Waiting in line this morning at the local cafe/bakery Adam saw that they had a range of sandwiches on offer, so out of curiosity, after all one never knows when a sandwich will be needed, he inspected the offerings.
One was labelled Ham Bagel, somewhat of a culinary oxymoron Adam thought.
Now Adam is rather fond of a decent bagel, though has yet to find a truly decent one in NZ, though for a short while there was a place in Greenlane Auckland that was passable.
This item from the Columbia Spectator discusses what a bagel should be.
Adam has very fond memories of visiting a traditional Lower East Side, NY, deli many years ago and having lox, bagels and cream cheese with some onion and capers. truly a combination made in heaven.
The shop in question has gone now, but this one is reputedly superb. Though New Yorkers tend to be very partisan when it comes to bagels and bagel bakeries.
Which rather brings him back to the ‘ham bagel’. Looking at this ‘bagel’ in the food cabinet he noted that:-
- he could not see the ham, though why you would want ham on a bagel rather defeats the the whole idea, given that bagels are these days associated very much with Jewish cuisine and kosher and ham is pork, so a ham bagel is really a no no in any event, sacriligious – though this piece suggests they have an older history, but pork was unlikely to feature
- the bagel was buttered, ugh
- finally the ‘thing’ was filled with what appeared to be a garden – rocket, that overdone gren in every NZ food store, yellow capsicum and horror of horrors avocado
Why on earth would anybody want offer such an offensive combination, especially when the classic bagel combinations are so spectacular. However, it is akin to offering toasted bagels with jam. If you want toast, buy toast.
Why do people have to adulterate classic food in such an horrendous and insensitive manner? what on earth would possess someone to serve up a ‘ham bagel’? Do they have no soul?
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