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1. The first bagel rolled into the world in 1683 when a Jewish baker from Vienna Austria was thankful to the King of Poland for saving Austria from Turkish invaders. The baker reshaped the local bread so that it resembled the King’s stirrup. The new bread was called “beugel,” derived from the German word stirrup, “bugel.”

2. Prepackaged bagels first became available in grocery stores in the 1950’s. Frozen bagels were introduced in 1960.

3. When Austrian Jews emigrated to America, they brought the beugel with them. The first beugel bakeries were founded in New York City in the 1920s. Later the name was Americanized and called a bagel.

4. The basic roll-with-a-hole design had practical advantages besides providing for a more even cooking and baking of the dough: the hole could be used to thread string or dowels through groups of bagels, allowing for easier handling and transportation and more appealing seller displays.

5. Bagels have been used to symbolize the continuous cycle of life—without beginning and without end.

6. Bagels are the only bread product that is boiled before it is baked.

7. Bagels are formed from an eggless dough (flour, yeast, water and oil) into a donut shape, then droped in rapidly boiling water, cooked 3 - 5 minutes on one side then flipped and cooked 3 -5 minutes more on the other side. Drained, sometimes brushed with egg and then baked for 10 minutes or so.

8. North Carolina molecular scientist Robert Bohannon has developed 'Buzz Donuts' and 'Buzzed Bagels'- caffeinated donuts and bagels. They contain the caffeine equivalent of 2 cups of coffee. (Jan, 2007)

9. In modern times Canadian-born astronaut Gregory Chamitoff brought the first known batch of bagels into space on his 2008 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station. His shipment was comprised of 18 sesame seed bagels.

10. Bagels are around the world: In Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, the bublik is essentially a much larger bagel. Other ring-shaped breads known among East Slavs are baranki (smaller and drier) and sushki (even smaller and drier). In Lithuania bagels are called riestainiai and sometimes the Slavic name baronkos. In China they enjoy a form of bagel known as girdeh nan (from Persian, meaning round bread). In Turkey, a salty and fattier form is called açma. In some parts of Austria, ring-shaped pastries called beugel are sold. In the UK, bagels are popular in London, Leeds and Manchester. In Romania, bagels are popular topped with sesame seeds or large salt grains, especially in the central area of the country, and the recipe does not contain any added sweetener. They are sold as covrigi.