Bagels and Lox Day

Bagel and Lox. Kenneth Lu / flickr.com / 2008 / CC BY 2.0

The 9th of February is a day for bagels, cream cheese and the cured salmon slices called “lox”, otherwise often reserved for Sundays only.

The day is growing in popularity, getting bigger and better than ever.

And no wonder. The day celebrates the smoky, rich taste of the salmon combined with the creamy tang of the cheese, and the lightly salty chewiness of the bagel.

And you can have it simple, with just the fish and the cheese, or you can dress it up, with tomato, onion and capers.

You can experiment with different types of bagels — Montreal, New York, or Toronto — but just remember, the bagel for a bagel and lox needs to be a good old-fashioned plain-flavour bagel. Sesame or poppy seeds on top are fine, but a blueberry or pizza flavoured or cinnamon and raisin bagel just wouldn’t cut it for this dish. A Jew would go to hell for even thinking of it.

Any cream cheese should be plain as well (sundried-tomato or apricot cream cheese are definitely out.)

But do you know what lox really is? What’s the difference between Lox, Nova Lox, Gravlax and Smoked Salmon? Many people who think they are buying lox are often actually buying nova lox.

Up until recently, you couldn’t get bagels and lox in Israel.

#BagelsAndLoxDay #BagelAndLoxDay #NationalBagelAndLoxDay

History

The earliest mention of the day that CooksInfo is aware of, to date, is in 2006.

Writer Terry Rombeck says, “Is there any law that would forbid me, for example, from buying ad space to announce National Bagel and Lox Day?” Actually, too late. National Bagel and Lox Day is Feb. 9.” ^[1]Rombeck, Terry. Gimmicky food days great for taking diet holiday. Lawrence Journal World. 31 May 2006. Page 3D, Col. 1

To celebrate National Bagel and Lox Day in 2018, on the 9th of February Acme Smoked Fish Corp in New York City teamed up with Zucker’s Bagels to make the largest bagel and lox sandwich ever for the Guinness book of records. The event was held live at Acme’s headquarters on 30 Gem St in Brooklyn. The salmon used was from Nova Scotia. The sandwich was measured by Guinness before being cut up and fed to the crowd. ^[2]Lopez, Farah. February 9th is National Bagel and Lox Day! New York, NY: Where® IN New York. 5 February 2018. Accessed July 2019 at https://www.innewyork.com/blog/daily-nyc/dine/february-9th-is-national-bagel-and-lox-day

“The bagel weighed 213 pounds and 75 ounces. It contained 40 pounds of smoked salmon with cream cheese, capers, tomatoes and onions.” ^[3]Rose, Lily. This giant 213-pound bagel and lox may have just set a new world record. New York, NY: Insider Inc. 12 February 2018. Accessed July 2019 at https://www.thisisinsider.com/bagel-lox-could-be-worlds-largest-2018-2

Guinness may not have accepted their efforts, however. A search of Guinness’s database in July 2019 showed “Largest cream cheese and smoked salmon / lox bagel: There is no current record holder for this title.”

Sources

Griffith, Glenn. Celebrating National Bagels and Lox Day on River Street. Saratoga Springs, NY: The Saratogan. 9 February 2019. Accessed July 2019 at https://www.saratogian.com/news/local-news/celebrating-national-bagels-and-lox-day-on-river-street/article_e9a9cb62-2cb3-11e9-89ff-67955db1aa42.html

Johnston, Garth. How are you celebrating bagel and lox day? New York, NY: The Gothamist. New York Public Radio. 9 February 2012. Accessed July 2019 at http://gothamist.com/2012/02/09/how_are_you_celebrating_bagel_and_l.php

National Bagel and Lox Day at Tomato Head. 4 February 2016. Blog posting. Accessed July 2019 at http://thetomatohead.com/national-bagel-and-lox-day-at-tomato-head/

Pastor, Jillian. Colossal 213 Pound Cream Cheese and Lox Bagel Breaks World Record in New York. New York, NY: NBC. 9 February 2018. Accessed July 2019 at https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Largest-Bagel-Lox-Guinness-Record-Attempt-Brooklyn-473617613.html

Lox on a bagel. Pug50 / flickr.com / 2010 / CC BY 2.0