The History of the Everything Bagel

Polish Jewish immigrants first brought bagels to New York City in the early 20th century, but the everything bagel didn’t pop up until sometime in the 1970s or 1980s. Upon its arrival, it quickly became popular and today, the everything bagel — which is sprinkled with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried onion, garlic, and salt — is the most frequently ordered type. However, its origins are a bit murky, as four different people claim to have created it. American restaurateur and MasterChef host Joe Bastianich claimed in his 2012 memoir, Restaurant Man, that he created the everything bagel in a drug haze while working at Bagel Den in Bayside, Queens in the 1970s. However, New York entrepreneur David Gussin insists he is the true originator of the everything bagel. According to his claim, Gussin invented the everything bagel at Howard Beach in 1980, when he was just 15 years old. He says he was working at a take-out restaurant that sold bagels; while removing the burnt seeds from the oven (the various seeds were used invididually to make popular bagel flavors like poppy, sesame, onion, and garlic), he began eating them and liked the combination so much that he convinced the owner to create a new flavor with all the spices mixed together. Gussin even owned the domain name "everythingbagel.com” for a brief time and notes that everything bagels took off around the time. Marketer Seth Godin later refuted Gussin’s story and claimed that he worked at a bagel factory in Buffalo in 1977 and was already producing everything bagels several years before Gussin; he also noted that he created them by simply sprinkling the seeds on top and did not pre-toast them like Gussin. Finally, Brandon Steiner, a sports executive, author, and media personality, wrote a blog post in 2016 claiming that he invented the everything bagel when he had the idea to put all the possible toppings onto a single bagel at once while working a part-time gig as a bagel maker in 1973. While we may never know which claim is true — and it is also very possible all four are true and that the everything bagel was invented separately several times by enterprising employees who decided to combine several readily available ingredients — one thing is certain: the everything bagel was a huge hit. Today, it is widely popular and "everything bagel seasoning" is even sold at grocery stores and added to other popular foods such as avocado toast. Additionally, many consumer products — ranging from potato chips to ice cream — now come in an everything bagel flavor.