Bagels were granted equal status with soda bread in Ireland following a government decision to reclassify the traditionally Jewish favorite as ordinary bread for the purposes of taxation.
When Jewish immigrants left the Soviet Union and arrived in North America, they experienced huge culture shock. The way Vlada Bilyak tells it in her new documentary, much of her own cultural confusion came from the way her Canadian classmates connected to Judaism–attending religious services or eating bagels. These had nothing to do with what Biyak’s parents had taught her about her religion, […]
The bagel has long been a basic codifier of Askenazic Jewish identity. The hip-hop parody group 2 Live Jews, in their anthem of Jewish identification “Shake Your Tuchus,” said, “If you don’t know what a bagel is, I guess I’ll have to clue ya–it’s doughy, round, and can be found at a deli close by to ya.” The word bagel means […]
