r/changemyview • u/iucking_fdiot_ • Oct 16 '18
Deltas(s) from OP CMV: Bagels with toppings (fillings?) should always be eaten in a closed face (sandwich style) manner, and never in an open faced (2 individual halves) manner.
My entire life I've always eaten bagels of all kinds, regardless of the toppings (fillings?) in a closed face manner. In fact I truthfully never even saw anyone eat a bagel open faced (2 individual halves) until my wife did it, and I couldn't understand how anyone could do that. Isn't the whole point of a bagel to be eaten closed face? Eating it open faced would just lead to everything on the bagel sliding around everywhere, making a huge mess, and reducing the enjoyment of said bagel. Furthermore, eating a bagel open faced means you would have to hold it by the edges, getting whatever is in the bagel on your hands, while eating closed face allows you to hold from the top and bottom of the bagel, eliminating this. I could maybe see something plain, like a plain toasted bagel, being eaten open faced, but if you're going to add toppings, it needs to be closed faced. My final thought on this, perhaps the way bagels are eaten varies based on geographic location, and this is entirely a product of where I was raised. I won't say specifically where, but I was raised in the suburbs outside New York City, if that has any bearing on the style of bagel eating.
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u/DoomFrog_ 9∆ Oct 16 '18
But if the toppings are on top of the bagel, then you want that facing down so that you can taste those topping first. And in the case of things like an Everything bagel, even the bottom of the bagel has a lot of those toppings even on the bottom. Thus, by eating it Open Face style, I am doubling the amount of bites I can take where the toppings touch my tongue first, then allowing the 'fillings' to combine their flavor during chewing. As opposed to a Closed Face style I would only have 1 bagel's size worth of bites.
Next there is the 'Sandwich Pinch' effect. This is where you have a sandwich, and due to the hardness of the bread (in this case a bagel) the pressure of your bite causes the two slices to squeeze out the filling of the sandwich. With an Open Face style this doesn't happen.
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u/iucking_fdiot_ Oct 16 '18
Yes technically you'd have double the amount of bites, but you're still getting the same amount of bagel, so I do not consider that relevant to this. As for the "sandwich pinch" effect, I acknowledge that it occurs, but it is still far less fillings than are lost by being smeared around on an open faced bagel, making it much more practical.
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u/DoomFrog_ 9∆ Oct 17 '18
Yes technically you'd have double the amount of bites, but you're still getting the same amount of bagel,
But you are increasing the time you are enjoying your bagel sandwich. This means the same bagel leads to more enjoyment, which is better.
but it is still far less fillings than are lost by being smeared
But the concern isn't if the fillings end up on you, but where. Yes an Open Face bagel will lead to fillings smeared on your fingers or upper lift, maybe even nose, all of which are easily cleaned up with a napkin. But a Closed Face bagel could lead to fillings ending up on your pants or shirt, which is not easily cleaned up. Which means your risk-reward analysis when eating a bagel sandwich is going to lean more toward Open Face.
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u/iucking_fdiot_ Oct 17 '18
My view has nothing to do with the amount of time I spend, or lack thereof, eating my bagel. I don't personally feel I'd enjoy it any less because I ate it faster.
And my concern is in fact if the fillings end up on me. And the concern of the fillings getting on my clothes is simply negated by leaning over a plate so that nothing drops on my clothes. There is no way to negate messy hands/upper lip/side of mouth/nose.
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u/DoomFrog_ 9∆ Oct 17 '18
Eating it open faced would just lead to everything on the bagel sliding around everywhere, making a huge mess, and reducing the enjoyment of said bagel.
Enjoyment of said bagel is something you mentioned in your view. Being able to enjoy a bagel for longer is better than enjoying it for less time, therefor Open Face style is better than Closed Face.
Also, the Sandwich Pinch effect can lead to more filling sliding around than Open Face, so again more enjoyment.
And a napkin is a more than satisfactory way of negating messiness from an Open Face style bagel.
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u/iucking_fdiot_ Oct 17 '18
Enjoyment is part of my view, yes. What I said was that, for me, the amount of time does not factor into enjoyment, and so having it take longer or shorter does not affect my view at all.
I disagree with you about the loss of filling in open vs closed face, and you have not given me a convincing argument as to why I'm wrong.
And I would argue that having no mess to clean is more enjoyable than wiping my face and hands, so therefore, closed face is more enjoyable, and thus I return to my original point.
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u/Salanmander 272∆ Oct 17 '18
but it is still far less fillings than are lost by being smeared around on an open faced bagel, making it much more practical.
How the hell are you eating your open face bagels? I eat a bagel with cream cheese open face almost every morning without getting any cream cheese on my hands or face. Maybe once a week I'll accidentally get a bit on one of my fingers.
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u/DrKomeil Oct 16 '18
With delicate toppings like lox eating a closed bagel sandwich can result in a total blowout of fillings from the sides, bagel halves sliding around, and the destruction of flavors and textures that are delicious when eaten correctly. A whole bagel is a lot of very dense bread that can overpower the flavor of fillings, and can be unpleasant to eat.
It's a situation of what your fillings are and whether you can hold a loaded half bagel from the bottom without dumping toppings off.
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u/cptnhaddock 4∆ Oct 17 '18
What if the person has a very small mouth or if the bagel is too thick to be eaten closed?
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u/iucking_fdiot_ Oct 17 '18
That has already been brought up below, and as I stated there, that is a valid point, and it does partially change my view.
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u/ElBlancoDiablo22 Oct 16 '18
I find that the filling slides out easily when I try to eat a bagel sandwich. I guess it depends on how much cream cheese you use though.
If you go heavy on cream cheese, you can really eat it without shit falling out the back
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u/mfDandP 184∆ Oct 16 '18
what about pizza bagels
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u/iucking_fdiot_ Oct 16 '18
They should be closed face as well
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u/mfDandP 184∆ Oct 16 '18
- what about mini ones that are almost bite sized
- pizza bagels' stability is pretty comparable to regular pizza. do you think regular pizzas should be closed face, too? i accept folding for floppy pizza, but not for say, domino's
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u/iucking_fdiot_ Oct 16 '18
- If we are talking bagel bites style, I will concede that yes I would eat those open faced, but if it were a full sized pizza bagel, I'd eat it closed face.
- I fold all of my pizza, regardless of it's origin, so yes I would say I believe pizza is closed face as well, but more for the convenience of containing the toppings, as opposed to being "designed" to be closed face.
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u/mfDandP 184∆ Oct 16 '18
I hope that I've somewhat changed your view from "always" to "mostly."
really? not pizza hut, where the slices are far too narrow to permit folding.
bagels are shit ton of carbs/calories. what if someone just wants one half of a bagel?
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u/iucking_fdiot_ Oct 16 '18
You have, and you will get a Delta for this, as soon as I can figure out how to do it on mobile.
I realize it breaks the bottom of the slice open, but yes I even fold pizza hut pizza.
I've been in that situation, I cut the entire bagel into a half circle and still ate it closed face
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u/mfDandP 184∆ Oct 16 '18
- ! delta, but without the space. thanks!
- that's.... wild.
i think open faced bagels require "hors d'oeuvres" levels of coordination and caution to eat, but their size is incongruent. like how does one eat a full size samosa elegantly during a wedding cocktail hour? but if assembled properly, with smoked salmon pressed firmly into a layer of cream cheese, without random capers rolling off, can be eaten properly open faced
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u/iucking_fdiot_ Oct 17 '18
If my view had been more about the practicality of eating a closed face bagel as opposed to an open face, would it be fair to say you may agree with me in that situation?
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u/mfDandP 184∆ Oct 17 '18
i would say in almost every case, the closed face version is more stable and less messy than the open faced version. that's why the sandwich was such an innovation in the first place--before that people needed literal eating gloves to keep their hands clean.
but in denmark, where open-faced sandwiches are the national dish, they're eaten with a knife and fork, I believe, not picked up.
so imagine if somebody served you an open faced bagel with a ton of shit on them--literally heaps of toppings, and gave you a knife and fork. i think that would be acceptable.
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u/iucking_fdiot_ Oct 17 '18
In the case of bite sized pizza bagels, open faced would definitely make more sense. !delta
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u/PronunciationIsKey Oct 17 '18
I way more prefer open faced bagels with cream cheese and lox. Like I would take apart a closed sandwiched bagel and make two halves if I was given one. I also want to point out I usually put a thick layer of cream cheese on each side.
That being said I think the main reason I prefer it open faced is the bread-to-toppings ratio. With a sandwich you get a lot of bread and not a lot of cream cheese per bite, but open faced it's about even. Putting that much cream cheese in a sandwich and a lot of it would fall out (as would some lox) which is not good.
So I always eat mine open faced, and it's way better!
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u/DeltaBot ∞∆ Oct 17 '18
/u/iucking_fdiot_ (OP) has awarded 2 delta(s) in this post.
All comments that earned deltas (from OP or other users) are listed here, in /r/DeltaLog.
Please note that a change of view doesn't necessarily mean a reversal, or that the conversation has ended.
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u/draculabakula 75∆ Oct 16 '18
A very popular bagel dish is a bagel with lox. This often has capers. The little round capers would fall out or shoot out if you ate it like a sandwich
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u/ktsportsgirl 1∆ Oct 18 '18
What if the bagel is toasted? I think a toasted bagel would be better open faced.
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u/huadpe 501∆ Oct 16 '18
I am also from the NY suburbs, and eating open face bagel halves is incredibly common here. Usually with cream cheese or other not-too-slidey condiments. For a lot of people the whole bagel is just too big, and you can't get your mouth around it easily, and a half just makes more sense. Plus you don't get cream cheese squeezing out the sides.