We believe that in order to truly appreciate your bagel, you must first
know of its origin. Read on. Only then can you embrace the bagel as the
tasty Circle of Life.
". . .Before another 100 years had elapsed,
Poland-Lithuania had virtually ceased to function as a
coherent and genuinely independent state. The
commonwealth's last martial triumph occurred in
1683 when King Jan Sobieski drove the Turks from
the gates of Vienna with a cavalry charge.
Poland's important role in aiding the European
alliance to roll back the Ottoman Empire was
rewarded with territory in western Ukraine by
the Treaty of Karlowicz (1699)."
So what does that have to do with bagels?
Keep on reading.
". . .The first bagel rolled into the world in 1683
when a baker wanted to pay tribute to Jan
Sobieski, the King of Poland. King Jan had just
saved the people of Austria from an onslaught of
Turkish invaders. The King was a great horseman,
and the baker decided to shape the yeast dough
into an uneven circle resembling a stirrup. The
Austrian word for "Stirrup" is beugel.
So there it is. It all makes sense now. Not only is the
bagel a tasty "stirrup" of bread, it is also an icon of freedom.
King Jan's courage and strength speak volumes, and the bagel is a
noble attempt to capture that spirit in the form of nutrition.
You can carry on that tradition of freedom by being one of
the Knights of King Jan. All you have to do is become a
Bagelite. Click the bagel below to be counted among the Bagelites.
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