Genericness

[A. Vine]

Amtrak and grocery stores may be referring to the way the pastry is created.
Bagels are boiled (a standard Jewish cooking technique), then baked.  They are
somewhat unusual in this respect.

Andrea

"Donald M. Lance" wrote:
>
> The dining car of Amtrak from KC to Chicago features "UNholey bagels." This is a marketing
> name for a pastry about 3/4 the diameter of a traditional bagel. It is made of bagel dough
> (or bagel-like it you're a purist) with no hole, has a bagel-like exterior, and is
> "filled" with a dab of cream cheese.  It's pretty good.  They also have one with cinnamon
> but I didn't try it.  It didn't occur to me to save the wrapper, so I can't tell you
> anything more.
>
> It is interesting that 'bagel' rather than otherwise-perhaps-expected 'doughnut' was
> chosen in tennis to refer to the shape of zero.  The pastry on Amtrak uses the term to
> refer to the dough, and grocery stores all over the country sell "bagels" that are larger
> than the traditional ones, may have light and fluffy texture, and may be gussied up in a
> variety of ways -- and the grocers presume to call them bagels because of their shape.
>