Are cinnamon raisin bagels real bagels?
A. Depends on your definitions. I think of them as real because they’ve been around for quite a while and make a fine breakfast when buttered and accompanied by a cup of tea. Others insist that nothing sweet can be a bagel, because who in their right mind would put lox and cream cheese on a cinnamon-raisin bagel? Plain, garlic, onion, poppy seed, salt, pumpernickel, sesame seed, and egg bagels are definitely real. Blueberry, pesto, sun-dried tomato, and cranberry-orange are newfangled impostors. Cinnamon-raisin is the current borderline between the two, but borders do shift, and it’s becoming harder and harder to find a decent pumpernickel bagel.
