READ THIS: The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread

In "The Bagel," author Maria Balinska recounts the entire history of what Whom You Know readers might munch on while looking in the windows at Tiffany's at 8am. Again, this is a review based on pure curiosity and delving more towards the Tasty Tidbit column, but much more complete in its roughly 200 pages.

What may surprise readers the most is the origin of the bagel-it is far more widespread than one would think. It goes far beyond New York to various regions of Europe and even China.

Bagels were used in eighteenth century paintings, and although not every object in the book that we would call a bagel was known by that name, it is an education to learn the varying names for bread that was first boiled, then baked.

In more modern sections of the book the origins of the Lender's frozen bagel is explored and fun cartoons and advertisements entertain the reader...To top it off, all proper Manhattanites know that this is the only place in the world where you can get a proper bagel! Pass the cream cheese!