Abagel and cream cheese (also known asbagelwith cream cheese) is afood pairing that consists, in its basic form, of a slicedbagel spread withcream cheese. Bagels with cream cheese are traditionally and most commonly served sliced horizontally and spread with cream cheese and other toppings.[1]
Bagels with cream cheese are common inNorth American cuisine, especially in thecuisine of New York City andAmerican Jewish cuisine. Bagels with cream cheese became popular in the 1980s as they expanded beyond Jewish communities. Bagels served closed as a sandwich also became increasingly popular for their portability. The basic bagel with cream cheese serves as the base for other items such as the "lox andschmear" ("smear"), a staple ofdelicatessens in the New York City area and across the U.S.
Some non-Jewish ingredients take well to bagelsandwiches, such as eggs and breakfast meats, cold cuts and sliced cheese. On the other hand, several traditional Jewish toppings for bagel halves do not work well when sandwiched, including the popularwhitefish salad,pickled herring orchopped liver, for the simple mechanical reason that soft toppings easily squirt out the sides when the bagel is bitten, as even a fresh bagel is firmer than most breads.
A bagel with cream cheese is common inAmerican cuisine, particularly inNew York City.[2] It is often eaten forbreakfast; withsmoked salmon added, it is sometimes served forbrunch.[2][3][4][5] In New York City circa 1900, a popular combination consisted of a bagel topped withlox, cream cheese, capers, tomato, and red onion.[6]
The combination of a bagel with cream cheese has been promoted to American consumers in the past by American food manufacturers and publishers.[7] In the early 1950s,Kraft Foods launched an "aggressive advertising campaign" that depicted Philadelphia-brand cream cheese with bagels.[8] In 1977,Better Homes andFamily Circle magazines published a bagel and cream cheese recipe booklet that was distributed in the magazines and also placed in supermarket dairy cases.[7]
InAmerican Jewish cuisine, cream cheese toppings of bagels have particular names. For example, a bagel covered with spread cream cheese is sometimes called a "whole schmear" bagel. A "slab" is a bagel topped with an not-spread slab of cream cheese.[9] A "lox and a schmear" is a bagel with cream cheese andlox or "Nova"smoked salmon. The latter being the particular style of Atlantic salmon used by Jewish delis on the East coast, and often also referred to as lox, especially outside the old and shrinking Jewish lineage of delis.[10][11] Tomato, red onion,capers and chopped hard-boiled egg are often added.[11][12] These terms are used at somedelicatessens in New York City, particularly at Jewish delicatessens and older, more traditional delicatessens.[9][13]
The lox and schmear likely originated in New York City around the time of the turn of the 20th century, when street vendors in the city sold salt-cured belly lox from pushcarts.[11] A high amount of salt in the fish necessitated the addition of bread and cheese to offset the lox's saltiness.[11] It was reported by U.S. newspapers in the early 1940s that bagels and lox were sold by delicatessens in New York City as a "Sunday morning treat", and in the early 1950s, bagels and cream cheese combination were very popular in the United States, having permeated American culture.[2][a]
Both bagels and cream cheese aremass-produced foods in the United States.[2][15][16] Additionally, in January 2003, Kraft Foods began purveying a mass-producedconvenience food product named Philadelphia To Go Bagel & Cream Cheese, which consisted of a combined package of two bagels and cream cheese.[17][18]
Bagels and cream cheese were provided to theater patrons by the cast ofBagels and Yox, a 1951 American-YiddishBroadwayrevue, during the intermission period of the show.[a][19][20][21] The revue ran at theHoliday Theatre in New York City from September 1951 to February 1952.[19][21] A 1951 review ofBagels and Yox published inTime magazine helped to popularize bagels to American consumers throughout the country.[8][22]
"Bagel and Lox" is a humorous song about the virtues of the bagel, lox, and cream cheese sandwich. It was written bySid Tepper andRoy C. Bennett. It has been recorded by several different artists, includingEddie "Rochester" Anderson[23] and, more recently,Rob Schneider,[24] Joan Jaffe,[25] andOleg Frish.[26] The lyrics to the chorus are:
Bagel and lox with the cheese in the middle,
Bagel and lox let it toast on the griddle,
Bagel and lox with the cheese in the middle,
And a slice of onion on the side.
| History | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Types | |||||||||
| Religious dietary laws | |||||||||
| Chefs | |||||||||
| Religious foods | |||||||||
| Breads |
| ||||||||
| Sweets |
| ||||||||
| Pastries | |||||||||
| Fried foods | |||||||||
| Dumplings, pastas and grain dishes | |||||||||
| Casseroles and savory baked dishes | |||||||||
| Snacks and other baked goods | |||||||||
| Sandwiches | |||||||||
| Egg dishes | |||||||||
| Meat dishes | |||||||||
| Fish dishes | |||||||||
| Salads and pickles | |||||||||
| Vegetable dishes | |||||||||
| Soups and stews | |||||||||
| Cheeses and other dairy products | |||||||||
| Condiments, dips and sauces | |||||||||
| Beverages | |||||||||
| Herbs, spices and seasonings | |||||||||
| Eateries | |||||||||
| Related lists | |||||||||
