Sunday, January 15 is National Bagel Day, a fun and random holiday to celebrate.

Not many people know that bagels take a long time to make and have to be cooked two times. When they are made, once all the ingredients are mixed together and the dough is formed, the bagels must first be boiled in water, which locks in the flavor. Once this first part of boiling is completed, they are then baked in the oven to create a hard crust.

According to Nationaldaystoday.com, traditionally to make bagels four people were needed for the process. Two people to prepare the dough and shape them, one to boil them, and one to bake them. So on this holiday we can appreciate bagels and the people who take their time to make them.

There are multiple kinds of bagels such as blueberry, everything, cinnamon crunch, cinnamon raisin, onion, asiago, plain, sesame, poppy seed, multigrain, pumpernickel, cheddar, chocolate chip, and many others. Over half of the students that responded to a poll said they preferred savory bagels over sweet bagels. There are also many ways you can enjoy a bagel on this holiday; you could have a bagel sandwich, a bagel with cream cheese, or even just a plain bagel. 

If you want to celebrate this holiday, there are multiple places you can stop at to get a bagel. According to multiple students at Bob Jones, they like to get bagels at Panera, grocery store bakeries, Bruegger’s Bagels (which is just down the road from Bob Jones), and even make bagels themselves at home. If you don’t mind driving a bit to Huntsville for a bagel, you can stop at Canadian Bakin. You can also stop by at a local bakery or coffee shop like Honest Coffee on Shorter Street or Rocket Rooster’s Coffee ‘n Go on Wall Triana Highway.

There aren’t too many places offering any kind of deals specifically for this day, but there are stores that have deals if you are signed up for things like email lists like Brugger’s or if you are a plus member like at Panera. Hopefully, this doesn’t wreck your New Year’s diet, but if it does, the right bagel is worth it.