bagels: a love story

by kendra tomala

Bagels, bagels, bagels! If you go to Andover, you know the hold that bagels have on us students. I don’t know if I will ever truly understand what makes the bagel so utterly perfect, but I do know one thing for sure: bagels will never disappoint.

Last year, on my revisit day as a wee little eighth grader, I was overwhelmed by the number of choices that Paresky Commons had. There was a salad bar, a sandwich bar, stirfry, pizza, and so many more options that I can’t even remember, but what I ended up picking was a bagel (and a salad, but that’s not as important). I didn’t know it at the time, but I was already somewhat fitting in at Andover.

I remember the process of fixing the bagel to my exact liking. Once I had gotten the tour of the breathtaking Paresky at the number one school in America (Phillips Academy Andover, of course), I, for some reason, said with confidence that I wanted a bagel. I awkwardly grabbed one of the many bags of bagels and opened it up. I selected the one right on the top and broke it open into two slices. Then, I took the two slices, carefully placed them into the toaster oven, and watched as they went into the depths of the toaster on the slow little conveyor belt. I waited for a solid minute. With my stomach grumbling and my mouth watering, I had never wanted a bagel so badly. Finally! There it came out and plopped onto the silver tray. I quickly grabbed it and placed it on a plate that was much too large for a single bagel. I went over to the fixings stations, and I, as the lactose intolerant child that I was, chose only strawberry jam to complement my toasty bagel. It smelled like my childhood.

My family has always been a fan of bread. Bagels especially. You would never see our pantry without a loaf of regular old white bread and a stack of bagels. Sometimes, when we were feeling fancy, we’d choose blueberry bagels instead of plain ones. I usually go for the classics, though. The best way to implement a bagel into your breakfast is to make the breakfast sandwich, which is quite literally the best start to your day. From top to bottom, the order would be as follows: toasted bagel slice, avocado slices, juicy tomato slices, fried turkey bacon, a slice of non-dairy cheese, fried egg number one, fried egg number two, and lastly another toasted bagel slice. If this was my breakfast, there was no way I would have a bad day. The experience is indescribable. The crunch from the bacon and bagel, tenderness of the tomatoes and avocado, and perfect flavor of fried eggs made this the most wonderful journey your taste buds could ever embark on.

Although I’ve eaten bagels for nearly all of my life, I feel that I have only recently connected them to my life here at Andover. I no longer have extravagant breakfast bagel sandwiches anymore and have learned to love a simple bagel with strawberry jam. Imagine this: it is 9:47 a.m. and you just finished Biology class. What do you first think of? Food, of course. But perhaps, a bagel (and also how you may or may not have just failed the test). To realize your thoughts, you must then force your way through the mob of other people who also have a bagel on their mind. Just as I had done last year on my revisit, you toast your bagel, nearly burn your fingers by retrieving the said bagel from the toaster oven, and use the large sticky spoon to spread some strawberry jam. Only on one slice, obviously, since you are not a fiend. That’s it. There you have it: the new perfect bagel. So simple, yet so rewarding.

Don’t get me wrong, bagel sandwiches will always have my heart. But at least for now, as a forever hungry Andover student, the classic toasted bagel with strawberry jam smeared in between the two slices will be my ultimate go to, and it should be yours, too!