With this weekly post we want to introduce you into the culinary range of the English speaking world. Each week we present you an iconic dish and give you information around its origin, preparation and eating habits. This week we are visiting the Big Apple – New York. Bagels can be regarded as a true American melting-pot meal. The roots of this product are found among others in China and Italy, where for example a bagel-shaped bread called a taralli was already sold as early as the late 14th century. According to food journalists, bagel met and married lox in New York. This dish is particularly associated with Jewish eating habits. New York has a strong Jewish population and bagels and lox is a weekend staple on many Manhattan tables.
The connection between Judaism and the dish
The Bagel: One theory is, that in the 12th and 13th centuries, Jews were banned by law from commercial baking. They were regarded as enemies of the Church. Therefore, they were to be denied bread, which has a central role in Christian religious belief and practice. After a „religious bagel revolution“ in Poland, Jews started to make their own bread and the bagel was born. The first documented mentioning of the Yiddish word „bagel“ can be found in 1660. Bagels then were a gift for women who had just born a child. Over the decades, the bagel became more and more popular among eastern European Jews and with the emigration wave to the United States at the turn of the 20th century, the bagel rolled right along with them.
The Lox: Many people belief that lox is smoked salmon. In fact the two are differentiated by their preparation or conservation. Whereas salmon is smoked, lox is cured in lots of salt for months. Its popularity in the Jewish kitchen is due to several factors. First, lox is what is called „pareve“ according to „kashrut“ – the Jewish food law. Pareve are those foods that contain neither milk nor meat and therefore have a special place in the Jewish eating tradition. Second, it is comparatively easy to get and prepare as, for example, meat must be slaughtered in a kosher manner. Salmon or lox can be bought without these restrictions. Third, smoking or salting the fish minimized the need for refrigeration.
The combination with cream cheese: According to food journalists, the bagel-creme cheese-lox invention was ment to be an alternative to Eggs Benedict, which includes ingredients that are not part of the Jewish eating law. So they tried to replace the ingredients and created Bagel and Lox.
Bagel and Lox Judaism
“Bagel and Lox Judaism“ is what some colloquially call the practice of judaism in a secular way. Many view the term critically as it usually refers to one who has no other connection to Judaism than eating bagels with lox on Sunday. From another perspective, the invention of the dish is a great metaphor for the assimilation of Jews in a new country as they try to keep their Jewishness by adapting and inventing new dishes and by making the effort to stay true to religious eating practices while dealing with the circumstances in a new country.
How to prepare Bagel and Lox
We are looking forward to hearing about your experiences with this recipe. If you have any other suggestions for a recipe of the week, do not hesitate to contact us!
