The Family Tree of the Bagel

In her book "The Bialy Eaters," Mimi Sheraton tells of her unsuccessful quest to trace the roots of the bialy to Bialystok, Poland. She goes there only to find no one there has ever heard of such a bread; most likely everyone who knew it was killed in the Holocaust.

Along the way, she offhandedly comments that the roots of the bagel are to be found elsewhere in Poland.

That place is most likely Krakow, to judge from my trip last month.

In touristy parts of Krakow, they sell tiny, stale, mini-bagels on a string:


But in places where Poles go, like the train station and market squares, they sell a different kind, bigger and twisted:


This type of bagel is lighter in texture than an American bagel, more like a German soft pretzel:



And lo and behold, at the Jewish bakery behind my apartment in Paris, they've got them as well as more American-style ones:


You can't quite make out the sign in this picture, but the bottom shelf is labeled "Baygel Pavot" (poppy-seed bagel), while the top is labeled "Bagel U.S."

And here I thought I was giving them up for the duration ...