Welcome To
The Bagel Eras Tour
One Food, Three Eras
The Ethnic Era
The Commercial Era
The Premium Era
Our Mission
Congratulations on being one step closer to attending the Bagel Eras Tour. If you're reading this, you're definitely bagel-curious, and by the time you explore what the Bagel Eras Tour has to offer, we know that you will become a bagel enthusiast. We believe that the bagel, just like the Constitution, is a living, breathing, and ever-evolving thing. Broadly speaking, the bagel in the United States has undergone three pivotal eras in the last century and a quarter: the ethnic bagel, the commercial bagel, and the premium bagel. These eras function as distinct subgenres of the food, each with its own taste, production technique, appearance, and broader significance. The Bagel Eras Tour's three acts will take you on a journey through the bagel’s transformation and reveal each era’s tremendous ethnic, cultural, and societal impacts. And don't worry, there's plenty of breaks. During the intermissions, take a moment to grab a snack, get refreshed, and learn about the factors that precipitated the bagel's different eras. Plus, stick around for the encore to experience a lyrical rendition of the bagel's transformation.
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Over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries, the introduction of new technologies, the changing status of Jews in America, and shifting consumer preferences precipitated the transformation of the bagel from a symbol of Jewish culture to a mainstream breakfast food to a viral international delicacy that replaced the food's ethnic significance with social ubiquity.
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We have chosen to document the bagel’s impact and transformation with a parody of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour because both the bagel and a concert tour encompass more than just the product/performance-- to consume the bagel is to connect with its history and changing status, just like attending a concert is to immerse yourself in a community of fellow fans. The Eras Tour specifically tracks the transformations and legacies of Taylor Swift’s career, which mirror the transformation of the bagel. Swift grew from a small, country artist appealing to Southern teen girls to a global phenomenon, altering the GDP of the places she performs in. Similarly, as you immerse yourself in this website overview of the Bagel Eras Tour, you will understand that the bagel in the US grew from a contained ethnic food to a breakfast bread known and appreciated globally. On her tour, Swift honors her past while simultaneously embracing her present. The Bagel Eras Tour does the same. So, as you navigate through our site, be on the lookout for song titles that are parodies of Swift’s songs, “concert” merchandise, a full encore song, and more!
Without further ado, scroll down to see a brief overview of our different eras and begin the tour! And don't forget, after you've become a true bagel enthusiast, buy a ticket to see the Bagel Eras Tour live!
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The Tour
1890-2026
Act 1: The Ethnic Era (1890-1950)
Act I explores the bagel's first era in America --the ethnic era-- when the bread was a hard, dense, small, and wide-holed delicacy strictly confined to New York's Lower East Side Jewish community. Recognized as a distinctly Jewish food, the ethnic bagel offers valuable insight into the scrutiny and preservation of Jewish ethnic identity in the US.
Act 2: The Commercial Era (1950-2000)
Act II highlights the bagel in its second era -- the commercial era--- as it rolled out onto the average American's breakfast plate. Breadier, softer, and more gentile than its predecessor, the commercial bagel provides a microcosm for analyzing Jewish identity in post-War America and the role of powerful marketing in shaping a food's reception and impact.
Act 3: The Premium Era (2000-2026)
Last but not least, Act III spotlights the premium era, the era currently dominating bagel discourse. This 21st-century artisanal revival of the bagel has seen bagel stores weaponize authenticity and virality to transform the bagel into a social media superstar, while simultaneously expanding the bagel's global presence and prompting the adoption of new regional bagel concoctions.