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September 22, 2015 12:35 PM Subscribe
Daniel Thompson, Whose Bagel Machine Altered the American Diet, Dies at 94. The obituary doubles as an abbreviated history of the bagel's fortunes, and the fortunes of bagel-makers:
As vaunted as it was in American cities, the traditional bagel for years remained so obscure — so ethnic — that as late as 1960 The New York Times Magazine felt obliged to define it for a national readership as “an unsweetened doughnut with rigor mortis.” … “Every bagel that was made in New York City up until the 1960s was a union bagel — every one,” Mr. Goodman said. … “Bagel Famine Threatens in City,” an alarmed headline in The Times read in 1951, as a strike loomed. (It was followed the next day by the immensely reassuring “Lox Strike Expert Acts to End the Bagel Famine.”)
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posted by yhbc at 12:44 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by yhbc at 12:44 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Incredible alternate headline: "Inventor of Folding Ping-Pong Table (also World's First Automatic Bagel Machine) Dies at 94".
posted by yhbc at 12:46 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by yhbc at 12:46 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
A very important counterpoint from The Awl.
posted by majuju at 12:51 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by majuju at 12:51 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
wait was it today? did he die on yom kippur thus enforcing a no-bagel-eating day of repentance?
posted by poffin boffin at 12:54 PM on September 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 12:54 PM on September 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
nvm i see it was on the 3rd.
posted by poffin boffin at 12:55 PM on September 22, 2015
posted by poffin boffin at 12:55 PM on September 22, 2015
ANYWAY 2h left to gorge myself on bagels, brb.
posted by poffin boffin at 1:01 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by poffin boffin at 1:01 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
As vaunted as it was in American cities, the traditional bagel for years remained so obscure — so ethnic — that as late as 1960 The New York Times Magazine felt obliged to define it for a national readership as “an unsweetened doughnut with rigor mortis.”
So...we have been eating doughnuts alive, basically
posted by clockzero at 1:05 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
So...we have been eating doughnuts alive, basically
posted by clockzero at 1:05 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
If Mr. Thompson’s brainchild, in the eyes of grateful consumers, democratized the bagel, there remain mavens who charge that his machine, along with those of later inventors, denatured the soul of a cherished cultural artifact. To these stalwarts, centered in the bagel redoubts of New York and Montreal, even invective-rich Yiddish lacks words critical enough to describe a machine-made bagel, though “shande” — disgrace — perhaps comes closest.So what you're saying is that Thompson was the victim of a schmear campaign?
posted by zombieflanders at 1:07 PM on September 22, 2015 [19 favorites]
o
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 1:10 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 1:10 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Wow. Not only were bagels union made the NY local was #338.
If the difference in machine bagels vs union bagels is as stark as the difference between commercial perogies and small shop, baker made perogies than I weep that I've never had a decent bagel.
posted by Mitheral at 1:11 PM on September 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
If the difference in machine bagels vs union bagels is as stark as the difference between commercial perogies and small shop, baker made perogies than I weep that I've never had a decent bagel.
posted by Mitheral at 1:11 PM on September 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
Lenders bagels are round and made with some type of wheat paste.
That's the extent of their bagelness. Sometimes the solution to a problem becomes a problem itself.
posted by tommasz at 1:14 PM on September 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
That's the extent of their bagelness. Sometimes the solution to a problem becomes a problem itself.
posted by tommasz at 1:14 PM on September 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
.
posted by oceanjesse at 1:19 PM on September 22, 2015
posted by oceanjesse at 1:19 PM on September 22, 2015
Back when we lived on the Guyland, my father took me out one Sunday morning to get our bagels - only to find out the bagel workers were on strike. My father refused to cross the picket line, and one of the workers pulled out a bag of bagels and gave it to him as thanks.
posted by adamg at 1:26 PM on September 22, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by adamg at 1:26 PM on September 22, 2015 [10 favorites]
No bagel-no-bagel-no-bagel-no-bagel...
Paraphrased:
1) Someone broke the steam valve!
2) What does that mean?
1) Nothing, it's just a little steamy.
posted by aydeejones at 2:59 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Paraphrased:
1) Someone broke the steam valve!
2) What does that mean?
1) Nothing, it's just a little steamy.
posted by aydeejones at 2:59 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Good bagels are still to be had in Toronto. While visiting friends there we went to a great breakfast place that had a bagel and lox platter that also came with fresh fruit, and the bagel was the old-style normal size one, not the bloated cakey things most places sell where I live.
posted by mermayd at 4:48 PM on September 22, 2015
posted by mermayd at 4:48 PM on September 22, 2015
Perhaps these traditional bagels should (rightfully, I think) be considered a separate thing from the common mass-produced bagels, and use their previous spelling, beigels, rather going with those tired old marketing terms such as 'classic,' 'artisanal,' or even 'real,' to describe these bagels.
While it's unfortunate that a portion of those closely-guarded family-secret methods have been lost, that same secrecy and strict control that established and protected them at first was also the primary reason for their rarity today. Any crafted product that relies on both the secrecy of its construction methods and excessive control of its manufacture almost always runs an ever-increasing risk of losing out to a new product that is not bound by secrecy and control. That product is usually considered of lesser quality in some ways than the original, but overcomes that through mass production, wider distribution, and cheaper costs to both the manufacturer and the consumer.
Expensive Asian lacquerware was overtaken by 'Japanning' in the 17th century, and the process expanded to many different products. The complex designs of Kashmir shawls were replicated en masse in Paisley, Scotland in the late 18th century by buildings filled with skilled weavers, who in turn were replaced by automated Jacquard Looms in the early 19th century. The beautiful, hand crafted books and manuscripts of the European monasteries were replaced by printed books, that rapidly took both reading and writing out of the hands of a select few and with it removed the control of ideas and media by the Catholic church. The list goes on and on, but it should be noted that with all of these examples, the originals are still highly prized over their mass-produced rivals.
What would truly be shameful is if those who were part of the union back then (or their descendants) don't join up once again to collect, archive, and preserve as many of those unique family trade secrets as they can. Lock them away, keep them a secret, do what you want, but don't lose them. From the few times I've been able to enjoy one of those handmade "tori of tastiness*", it would indeed be a tragedy for them to just disappear someday.
* I know 'toruses" is wrong, but "tori" just looks weird when written.
posted by chambers at 5:56 PM on September 23, 2015
While it's unfortunate that a portion of those closely-guarded family-secret methods have been lost, that same secrecy and strict control that established and protected them at first was also the primary reason for their rarity today. Any crafted product that relies on both the secrecy of its construction methods and excessive control of its manufacture almost always runs an ever-increasing risk of losing out to a new product that is not bound by secrecy and control. That product is usually considered of lesser quality in some ways than the original, but overcomes that through mass production, wider distribution, and cheaper costs to both the manufacturer and the consumer.
Expensive Asian lacquerware was overtaken by 'Japanning' in the 17th century, and the process expanded to many different products. The complex designs of Kashmir shawls were replicated en masse in Paisley, Scotland in the late 18th century by buildings filled with skilled weavers, who in turn were replaced by automated Jacquard Looms in the early 19th century. The beautiful, hand crafted books and manuscripts of the European monasteries were replaced by printed books, that rapidly took both reading and writing out of the hands of a select few and with it removed the control of ideas and media by the Catholic church. The list goes on and on, but it should be noted that with all of these examples, the originals are still highly prized over their mass-produced rivals.
What would truly be shameful is if those who were part of the union back then (or their descendants) don't join up once again to collect, archive, and preserve as many of those unique family trade secrets as they can. Lock them away, keep them a secret, do what you want, but don't lose them. From the few times I've been able to enjoy one of those handmade "tori of tastiness*", it would indeed be a tragedy for them to just disappear someday.
* I know 'toruses" is wrong, but "tori" just looks weird when written.
posted by chambers at 5:56 PM on September 23, 2015
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posted by rosswald at 12:44 PM on September 22, 2015