Do you scoop your bagels?
Some women are asking for their bagels hollowed out to cut calories: http://nymag.com/daily/food/2008/06/reader_demands_essabagel_custo.html
I am very neurotic about food & have a tiny dog but I have never 'scooped'-surely having 1/2 makes more sense
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44 Comments:
Wow, really? I mean, if you don't have the where-with-all to discard the portion of the bagel you don't want to eat on your own...perhaps you shouldn't purchase the bagel in the first place.
feriorrenna at 6:30PM on 07/01/08
No no no no no! Scooping bagels is simply un-American and should not be done.
Alaina Browne at 6:33PM on 07/01/08
When I saw the title of your thread, my first thought was, Why in the world would I?! When I read the whole thing, I immediately thought of my mother-in-law - sadly, I can absolutely see her do it.
brooke29 at 6:44PM on 07/01/08
It just sounds so pretentious--even from a dieting standpoint, having a half a bagel is easier to 'guesstimate' calorie-wise, and provides more satisfaction. I do sometimes eat bagels inside-out, though, if I'm having them plain.
HeartofGlass at 7:18PM on 07/01/08
If someone wants to cut calories, they should have an English muffin. When I eat a bagel, I want a carbohydrate experience that's going to whallop me.
I do scoop my Italian bread or French bread but I'm just not into the fluff. I like the crusty parts!
chiff0nade at 7:25PM on 07/01/08
never with a bagel, but i do scoop out overly bready hamburger and hot dog buns. i hate when the bun takes over and you can't taste the meat!
lexophile at 7:31PM on 07/01/08
HA! I used to do this. Now I am just fat and happy instead.
love2cook at 7:59PM on 07/01/08
I'd scoop if I had some yummy fattening filling to put in the canal. ;)
PerkyMac at 8:34PM on 07/01/08
LOL Perky. I was thinking about that. If...IF...I came across a bagel that had a canal scooped out, I'd fill in the canal with cream cheese or jam, or whatever. :P
That's just amazing.
What bothers me are people who cut bagels in half and leave half a bagel on the communal platter of bagels at work. Now why would I eat something that someone has already molested. You know the person who cut it probably took the end that they didn't hold down while cutting.
Cassaendra at 8:42PM on 07/01/08
if its not a good bagel i do scoop the innards out and usually fill it back in with things like chicken salad, jelly,cream cheese, or bacon, deep fried of course ;) hmmmthat bacon idea sounds pretty good!
huneybumper at 8:53PM on 07/01/08
i guess i am in the minority here, but i think it's perfectly fine for people to scoop their bagels, or have their bagels scooped. i have a ton of weird eating habits and i wouldn't like to be made fun of for them. i love my bagels soft and warm, not toasted. i eat them plain most of the time, tearing them into chunks. and i like to peel them and eat the "crust" of the bagels before the bready part. and i'll keep on doing it that way!
stumbler02 at 9:22PM on 07/01/08
I eat the "low-carb" Western Bagels. They are a decent size and only about 100 calories or so. They don't have any weird ingredients in them and they satisfy my every bagel craving!
yummydietfood at 9:27PM on 07/01/08
Sacrilegious. If you're doing it because you're worried about carbs, what the heck are you doing near a bagel in the first place?!
Emily Koh at 9:58PM on 07/01/08
what is this IDEA people have in their heads about how a bagel should be eaten???!! i'm sorry for sounding so upset, but it seems a little "stuck up" to tell someone how they should eat a bagel.
let people eat them the way they want to be eaten. my god, we are criticizing those who are trying to eat a bit healthier (those individuals should still be allowed to have a bagel even if they do so, it's their life) while we go on letting tons of others eating disgusting loads of fast food, processed foods, etc.
sweetpotato at 10:52PM on 07/01/08
my low-carb dieting mom first cuts her bagel into thirds, and then scoops out an outside section to eat... no one ever eats that stupid middle third.
agk685 at 11:07PM on 07/01/08
I do this when buns for kielbasa (for exampe) just seem like way too much, but that's more of a sheer volume of food type thing for me. I can understand people wanting to cut down but not give up things they love - but if I ended up doing something like this on a regular basis, I'd probably eat bagels at home and not make the poor kid at the shop hollow them out.
joyyy at 12:02AM on 07/02/08
God no! If you're going to eat something, enjoy it, don't strip most of it out and make everyone else wait on your issues.
thepirateking at 2:37AM on 07/02/08
The only time I'd hollow out any baked good is if I intended to fill it with something wonderfully messy and, in the scooping, I'd lessen the chance of good food running all over the front of my t-shirt; any more than already happens ;~)
czken at 3:42AM on 07/02/08
I never knew this was something that could be done. Until-about 3 weeks ago. I bought breakfast for my study group and thought bagels would be perfect (there's a great place that makes bagels on site every morning-Yum!). Everyone agreed it was a good idea and my friend asked me if they could scoop out the insides. Thought it was interesting, but thought whatever. I didn't care.
Personally, I'd be too afraid to scoop out the insides...Too much to fill it with. Like DELICIOUS cream cheese. I don't eat bagels often. I can't. I LOVE cream cheese tooo much.
Butrflygirly at 8:21AM on 07/02/08
Okay, if you're choosing a bagel to begin with, then know it's going to have tons of carbs!! If you're going to hollow it out anyway, why not just get something else....sheesh! I would never waste a bagel like that.
luswim06 at 8:36AM on 07/02/08
I scoop my whole wheat bagel to cut the calories in half. I still enjoy the bagel, I get my fiber, and I'm happy. It is a sorry state of affairs when people care how anyone eats a bagel!!!!
Mich23 at 8:43AM on 07/02/08
Yes, I have done it. But it's almost always at a function or some other situation where I didn't order breakfast - the tray of bagels was already there and the other option was pastries. Oh, and most ppl who scoop out a bagel only eat a half as it is.
onespicymama at 9:17AM on 07/02/08
one of my naturally thin friends routinely slices bagels into thirds before toasting them, so i itried it and was completely satisfied with the portion i got. new york bagels are enormous anyway. ever been to montreal? there's a fabulous bagel bakery on st. catherine called the bagel place and they make the most amazingly delicious bagels. they're about half the size of ours.
cybercita at 9:27AM on 07/02/08
Lame. I'd just eat something else.
@cybercita try Bagel Hole on 7th in Park Slope for properly sized bagels.
bobbob at 10:42AM on 07/02/08
Guilty bagel scooper here.
Only because I am diabetic and I really, really miss bagels. A scooped bagel, once a week, is such a treat for me now!
This at least gives me the chance to eat one of my favorite foods while still cutting back on the carbs. But I don't generally ask for it in a deli or anything - too embarassing. I only scoop in the privacy of my own humble abode. :)
By the way, a scooped bagel is actually really good toasted. :)
Carry on.
sixsonnets at 10:57AM on 07/02/08
I live on Long Island and a lot of bagel places sell something called a flagel. This is a flattened bagel that virtually eliminates the doughy middle. They seem very popular. I however love the doughy middle, so I never order these or scoop but to each his own. People can eat whatever, however they want as far as I'm concerned.
KtMc24 at 11:16AM on 07/02/08
I love flagels and only order them if they are available. The best part of the bagel is the crunchy outside!
When there are bagels at work I scoop out the inside to simulate it. I don't do it b/c of the "less calorie" notion though, just b/c I don't care for the fluffy part so much.
And so no, eating half is not the same as scooping out the middle.
Jacquie at 11:40AM on 07/02/08
This is ridiculous. What's wrong with scooping out the bagel to be calorie-concious? I don't think there should be such a stigma to trying to watch what you eat. Because you know what, there is also a stigma with being heavy so really you can't win. If you want to eat the whole bagel, go ahead. But I think its crazy say that someone else shouldn't eat a bagel that way.
Furthermore, I am happy to scoop the bagel out myself but if I order it that way and the guy behind the counter does it, then great. Why should I feel bad about that? Because I am paying for something and I want to eat it a certain way? If there is a problem, then the establishment should either decline to scoop out my bagel or charge extra. They have a choice too.
Oh and I don't have a dog, but if I did it would be a big one.
sarag22 at 12:04PM on 07/02/08
for some reason no one is talking about how wasteful this is. my problem with it has absolutely nothing to do with stigmatizing the calorie conscious or their quirks.
sloppy at 12:22PM on 07/02/08
Wow, such controversy over bagels!
I've never heard of this before and am mildly disturbed. I take my bagels seriously even though I realize that it's just food and that scooping a personal choice and none of my business. Why not eat half a bagel - or a quarter of a bagel - instead?
The concept of scooping out bagels would make a Montrealer sh*t themselves and I want a Montrealer to either validate this statement or contradict it.
CanadianFoodieGirl at 1:42PM on 07/02/08
Scooping a bagel? never heard of anyone doing it before reading this thread. Seems to me how you eat it in the privacy of your home is your own business, but in public -- I don't think so. If the idea is to cut calories or for other dietary purposes, I would think you'd either eat only a portion or avoid them all together. Scooping a bagel in public would be, IMHO, as bad as double dipping...simply not done.
bubbamom at 6:15PM on 07/02/08
I scoop all bread, rolls, or bagels. I only like the crunchy crust. Period.
izatryt at 6:24PM on 07/02/08
@bobbob -- i know the bagel hole well, i used to live in the slope and liked their bagels a lot.
canadianfoodiegirl, montrealers don't need to scoop their bagels since their bagels are not ginormous poofy calorie bombs the way ours are.
cybercita at 6:56PM on 07/02/08
I scoop my bagels. So what?
Amen to whomever said that eating a half a bagel is not the same thing.
Next can there be an overblown discussion about people who don't eat their pizza crusts?
Tokyorosa at 7:07PM on 07/02/08
I scoop my bagels because I like the outside much better than the inside. It has never occured to me to have the bagel guy scoop the doughy part out but to each his/her own. The world might be a better place if we worried less about bagel scoopers and more about "real" problems.
deefine at 8:11PM on 07/02/08
I have never thought of scooping a bagel, but if that is how some people like it then what's the big deal? We all have our food quirks, right?
@Tokyorosa--LOL, I thought exactly the same thing about the pizza crust issue!
wookie at 10:45PM on 07/02/08
Wow, I never realized people would get so passionate about this--I still don't see how scooping a bagel is less caloric than eating half, though, and it is harder to estimate how much you've lost.
As for puffy white things that people have been inveighing against, though--those things are not bagels, and I do not eat them at all--they are inner tubes! Bagels are small and dense!
HeartofGlass at 5:46AM on 07/03/08
Interestingly I noticed that no-one commented on
"women are asking to have their bagels hollowed out to cut calories"
I guess my problem is being at the counter and holding up the line so someone can do that for you.
- just a thought here- instead of asking someone else to do your hollowing out of the bagel- do it yourself and burn those 3 calories.
bisbee at 12:46PM on 07/03/08
Bisbee - that's *exactly* what my problem is - these women are having the clerks hollow their own bagels out for them. It's like the epitome of laziness - no wonder you need to cut the calories if you're too lazy to shuck your own bagel fluff.
feriorrenna at 6:32PM on 07/03/08
Amen.
bisbee at 6:39PM on 07/03/08
Seems like this is something the consumer could easily do for him/herself. What if the kid behind the counter scoops too much? Ask for another bagel with less scoopage because the current one is ruined? Or keep returning it for more scoopage because enough hasn't been removed yet?
Personally, I don't care how much or little of a particular food a person wants to eat, or how picky they want to be about trimming the food. But really, at some point, you just need to do the trimming yourself. I mean, people who don't eat pizza crusts don't ask for their crusts to be removed for them, do they?
dbcurrie at 6:10PM on 07/06/08
I scoop bagels.
...because I like to eat the soft, fluffy innards first.
jazzinx at 6:42PM on 07/06/08
Of course!!! That way you have more room to load it up with cream cheese and/or tons of lox!
http://www.someonespoilme.com
someonespoilme at 6:39PM on 07/21/08
i agree with sloppy -- i don't have a problem with people trying to be calorie conscious, it just seems a little wasteful to me to order a bagel and have the clerk scoop all of the inside from it, leaving just the crust. if you're using the pizza analogy, it's like ordering a slice of pizza and having the clerk throw away all of it EXCEPT the crust.
but on the other hand, hey, if some places offer it, that's their prerogative. just because you buy a bagel doesn't mean you should be forced to eat all of it! who am i to tell anyone how or how not to eat the bagel they purchased?
megannesta at 7:15PM on 07/21/08