An everything bagel is a type of

bagel A bagel ( yi, בײגל, translit=beygl; pl, bajgiel; also spelled beigel) is a bread roll originating in the Jewish communities of Poland. It is traditionally shaped by hand into a roughly hand-sized ring from yeasted wheat dough that is first ...

baked with a mix of toppings. The exact ingredients vary, but recipes may include

caraway Caraway, also known as meridian fennel and Persian cumin (''Carum carvi''), is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe, and North Africa. Etymology The etymology of "caraway" is unclear. Caraway has been ...

seeds, garlic flakes, onion flakes,

poppy seed Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum''). The tiny, kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countries, ...

sesame seed Sesame ( or ; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a flowering plant in the genus ''Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cu ...

s and salt. The bagels are made with regular dough and the name is independent of additional fillings such as

cream cheese Cream cheese is a soft, usually mild-tasting fresh cheese made from milk and cream.Oxford English Dictionary Stabilizers such as carob bean gum and carrageenan are often added in industrial production. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration de ...

. The everything bagel inspired other bread creations with similar toppings, such as everything bagel chips, everything croissants, everything rolls, everything

roti Roti (also known as chapati) is a round flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent. It is popular in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, Trinid ...

, everything

fusilli Fusilli () are a variety of pasta that are formed into corkscrew or helical shapes. The word ''fusilli'' presumably comes from ''fuso'' ("spindle"), as traditionally it is "spun" by pressing and rolling a small rod over the thin strips of pasta to ...

, and everything hot dog buns. Even mixed nuts have been flavored with the mixture. It is offered by many bakeries and fast casual restaurants. Its origins are disputed, but it was likely first created sometime between 1973 and 1980.

Origin

The origin of the everything bagel is disputed. A 1977 article in Newsday on where to eat in Syosset, NY, noted that at Bagel Master, "for those who can never decide if they want plain, salt, poppy seed, sesame seed, garlic or onion, there's something called the everything bagel, which is topped with all of them." David Gussin claims he invented it sometime around 1980: while sweeping up leftover bagel toppings from the oven, Gussin saved them in a bin and convinced the store owner to make bagels with them. He concurs that others might have previously invented the concept but insists that he coined the name "everything bagel". Others who have claimed to have invented the everything bagel include American restaurateur

Joe Bastianich Joseph Bastianich (born September 17, 1968) is an American restaurateur, winemaker, author, television personality, and musician. He, along with his mother and business partner Lidia Bastianich, co-owns thirty restaurants in four countries, inclu ...

and sports marketer

Brandon Steiner Brandon Steiner (born June 23, 1959) is a sports marketer. He was the founder and former CEO of Steiner Sports now owned by Fanatics. He is currently the founder and CEO of CollectibleXchange and The Steiner Agency. He and his family live in Scar ...

. In his blog,

Seth Godin Seth W. Godin is an American author and former dot com business executive. Background After leaving Spinnaker in 1986, he used $20,000 in savings to found Seth Godin Productions, primarily a book packaging business, out of a studio apartment in ...

said he worked in a bagel factory that produced everything bagels two years before Gussin. Brandon Steiner, who believes his invention at a bakery in 1973 predates the others, wrote in a 2016 blog post:

"One night I was screwing around with different combinations of toppings – sesame, salt, poppy, onion and garlic – making braids, onion flats, and other unorthodox concoctions. Then, after a while, I had the thought to throw all the toppings on a bagel at once. That’s how I invented the everything bagel. This was 1973; I was 14."

Allusions

An everything bagel is the

MacGuffin In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The term was originated by Angus MacPhail for ...

in the 2022 movie ''

Everything Everywhere All at Once ''Everything Everywhere All at Once'' is a 2022 American absurdist comedy-drama film written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (collectively known as "Daniels"), who produced it with Anthony and Joe Russo. The plot centers on a ...

''. In this movie, it is topped with literally everything in the

multiverse The multiverse is a hypothetical group of multiple universes. Together, these universes comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, information, and the physical laws and constants that describe them. The di ...

References

{{Jewish baked goods Bagels Jewish breads Jewish baked goods Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine Jewish American cuisine Cuisine of New York City Food and drink introduced in the 20th century