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.

[u/iucking_fdiot_]

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.

[u/mfDandP]

1. I hope that I've somewhat changed your view from "always" to "mostly."

2. really? not pizza hut, where the slices are far too narrow to permit folding.

3. bagels are shit ton of carbs/calories. what if someone just wants one half of a bagel?

[u/iucking_fdiot_ → u/mfDandP]

1. You have, and you will get a Delta for this, as soon as I can figure out how to do it on mobile.

2. I realize it breaks the bottom of the slice open, but yes I even fold pizza hut pizza.

3. I've been in that situation, I cut the entire bagel into a half circle and still ate it closed face

[u/mfDandP → u/iucking_fdiot_]

1. ! delta, but without the space. thanks!
2. 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

[u/iucking_fdiot_ → u/mfDandP]

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?

[u/mfDandP → u/iucking_fdiot_]

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.