UPDATED: I Weigh In On the Saint Louis Bagel Controversy

 I went out, and while I was getting the car washed, a Saint Louisan tweeted this photo of vertically sliced bagels:

His tweet says, "Today I introduced my co-workers to the St. Louis secret of ordering bagels bread-sliced. It was a hit!"

And then of course the internet turned on him. Can you imagine, you send out a nice little tweet and suddenly you're you are the number one topic on Facebook?

I have had bagels sliced this way, and as I replied to Alex:

1. More cream cheese delivery surface.
2. Less than 250 calories per serving.
3. No one gets the crappy side vs the puffy side.*

I don’t ask for this slice pattern, but I think it's polite to slice bagels this way. I support, you, bagel guy.

* Of course, equal portions isn’t always important in Saint Louis, given that we deliberately slice pizzas in squares, not wedges.

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UPDATE: Panera (which operates here under the "Saint Louis Bread Company" name) has peppered the metro area with these billboards.

Comments

[KC]

At first I thought this photo just showed bagels sliced in half the "wrong" way, and I was baffled by the "more cream cheese delivery surface" point, because it is fairly difficult to get cream cheese evenly distributed that way; not easier than whole uncut bagels, and definitely not as much cream cheese surface as bagels that have been sliced into a top and a bottom (and I have had Meeting Bagels sliced in half the "wrong" way, and while yes, you don't get the inequitable-bagel-bottoms problem, I do not like it if they're set to be paired with any sort of spread). But no, I need glasses.

My opinion is that If you're not needing a no-plate this-bagel-is-your-breakfast grab-and-go (in which case: please give us whole bagels sliced horizontally in half so that we can have a whole bagel, spread our cream cheese in the middle, and move along), but instead want something more snacky and come-back-for-more-ish, bread-slicing seems brilliant, provided your collection of humans won't avoid all-the-edges or all-the-middles, leaving you with sad sliced-bagel leftovers, and provided the bagels will be consumed relatively rapidly (the more loose slicing which leaves more surfaces open to air, the more drying out). Bonus, I suppose, would be that bread-sliced bagel leftovers could then be toasted for bagely crostini, perhaps?

But: snack: give us units of food suitable for different snack-size preferences. Meal: don't make us juggle 4-6 pieces of something on a small floppy napkin.

[Ernie]

I love your response to the bagel guy. I agree with you. It does make sense to have more surface area to spread cream cheese.

And this is probably why I have very little to do with Facebook or Instagram, and I am not even 80. Does anyone else hate that once you comment on someone's Facebook post, you get an email about every subsequent post? It makes me nuts. It is like being part of a group text from a coach. Once I have the info, I do not care at all to read everyone elses's responses.

[TheQueen]

KC - Oooo. Barely crostini. Ooooo.
Ernie - I have my FB set up so I don’t get emails. I don’t even get the screen notifications any more. And for many posts I go to that top right corner and turn off notifications for that post. I’m not on any group emails, but I do know that there are group emails at work which are sometimes just silliness that I could do without.