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The obwarzanek, a special bread made for Lent, is listed in the household accounts of Jadwiga, queen of Poland. Boiled, baked, and ring-shaped, it is virtually identical to the bagel.
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Jewish elders of Krakow issue a law restricting consumption of bagels. Made of wheat flour in a land of rye, they're expensive. The elders recommend that bagels - whose circular shape was believed to provide powerful protection to infants - be served when celebrating the birth of a boy.
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King of Poland and noted horseman Jan Sobieski ends the Ottoman siege of Vienna. According to legend, a Jewish baker creates a bagel-like bread in his honor, in the form of his stirrup.
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Wheat becomes cheaper and more widespread and so does the bagel. Jewish bagel peddlers become ubiquitous in market squares across Eastern Europe.
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The Jewish exodus to America begins. The first bagels in New York City are baked alongside dark rye bread and challah in cellar wholesale bakeries under Hester and Rivington Streets. Strung up on rope, they are sold by peddlers and in delis.
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The Jewish bakers of Manhattan, including bagel bakers, go on strike - backed by the Forward's Abraham Cahan - and win union recognition. The triumphant bakers march through the Lower East Side carrying a loaf of bread 5 feet wide and 15 feet long.
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The song 'Bublitchki, Buy My Bagels' is first performed in Odessa. The song would be banned by Soviet authorities in 1928 but would go on to become a huge hit in the 1930s in Warsaw cabarets and in the U.S.
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The bagel bakers of New York get their own independently chartered union, Local 338, of the Bakery and Confectionery Workers International Union.
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A new variety show, 'Bagels and Yox,' opens on Broadway. Bagels are served at intermission.
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The Lender brothers - Murray, Marvin and Sam - in West Haven, Connecticut, lease the first bagel-making machine. Mechanization together with the convenience of frozen pre-sliced bagels would make the fortunes of Lender's bagels.
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Bagel-making moves into retail shops with neon signs flashing 'hot bagels.' The bagel union breaks u and bagel bakers fan out across the country. In 1973, food critic Mimi Sheraton laments that 'there isn't an old-fashioned bagel to be had in New York City.'
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The Lenders report $65 million worth of bagel sales. Kraft Foods buys their company. Accordng to one survey, only 20% of Americans have tasted a bagel.
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Kraft opens the world's biggest bagel factory in Matton, Illinois, capable of churning out one million bagels a day. Bagel sales hit the $500 million mark. About 40% of the bagels sold in America are frozen.
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Bagels continue to grow as a wholesome breakfast or snack. About 61% of American households indicated that they have eaten bagels in the year of 2012.
