Let’s be clear: All bagels are great. (Except plain bagels—like…live a little for once.) But a chronic problem, as any regular bagel eater knows, is over cream-cheesing. There’s often an inch-thick layer of cream cheese between your slices of bagel, and it gets squeezed out on your first bite, covering your fingers and generally making a mess. A scooped bagel avoids that problem. “But what about the doughy to crunchy ratio?” You ask. What about it? There’s still plenty of soft, springy inside to munch through in a scooped bagel. No bagel shop has ever scooped a bagel into a completely two-dimensional object devoid of its doughy interior. In fact, I’d argue that the dough-to-crunch ratio is improved; you can experience the crackly crunch without the overwhelming gumminess of too much inside. Lastly, full-sized, un-scooped bagels make me straight-up sleepy. Once I eat that amount of carbs in one sitting, I am done for the day.
If you’re still not convinced, you should know some important people are on my side: Friends era Jennifer Anniston for one. And also Bethenny Frankel. Okay, you know, seeing it all laid out in print like that, maybe I’m not helping my case.
When I asked my colleagues if they preferred their bagels scooped or unscooped I knew I was in for a whirlwind of Slack notifications. Nearly every response was anti-scoop. Here’s a sampling of how the Bon Appetit team feels:
“Scooping bagels is for people who hate themselves. The doughy part in the middle is the best. Why would you want to remove it?” —Zoe Denenberg, associate editor cooking and SEO
“Scooping bagels is a crime. What’s the po