ACT III
The Era of "Authenticity" & Virality (2000-2026)
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Set Design
Our final physical set on the Bagel Eras Tour, the set for Act III, is not inspired by a specific space, but by a culinary museum. Coined by anthropologist Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, the culinary museum effect examines how traditional food practices are presented as cultural artifacts rather than preserved; they are meant to be gazed upon rather than consumed. Many of the bagel production spaces that define the premium era exemplify this effect, providing the performance of authentic production whilst continuing to employ modern practices. Our physical set mirrors this, featuring a high-rent, open-concept kitchen where the labor of hand-rolling makes original craft techniques visible, whilst modern equipment and the history of bagel-making production remain hidden in off camera spaces. This physical space, moreover, is tethered to a digital set: feeds. From Yelp reviews to food blogs to TikToks, the 21st century bagel has infected social media, transforming platforms into new contact zones for debates over bagel quality and authenticity. With these platforms prioritizing visual-based contact, the facade of authentic bagel production has become more integral than connecting with the bagel's ethnic heritage. The premium bagel store is therefore itself a carefully curated construction designed first to attract attention and second to produce quality bagels. After all, the algorithm now determines a bagel shop's destiny, and algorithms favor aesthetic bagels and production videos over media that spotlights the ethnic bagel's traditional appearance and acknowledges its Jewish heritage.
Setlist
All Too Well (Hand-Rolled Version)
Cruel Prices
Act III's second track, "Cruel Prices," reveals the economic stratification inherent to the era of premium bagel eminence. The premium era constructs a dual market structure: the premium bakery bagel serves upper-class, urban, "cultured" individuals, whereas the broader, less-wealthy public is relegated to consuming the cheaper, store-bought, commercial bagel. Consequently, the authenticity, quality, and human connection that the premium era promotes have become exclusive to upper-class consumers, creating regressive barriers to entry for premium bagel consumption. Although the high prices of artisanal bagels originally arose from the higher relative costs of returning to some traditional production techniques and small batch production's lack of efficiency compared to mass production, prices have become a self-fulfilling prophecy ripe for economic exploitation: higher costs signal more value, which, in turn, provides the increased demand that raises prices. When a bagel, cream cheese, and drink combo totals at least $15, the premium bagel becomes a marker of privilege, reinforcing a cultural hierarchy that excludes lower-income and suburban consumers. Ironically, lower-income Jews cannot consume the bagel that claims to bear the closest resemblance to their ethnic tradition. Where the ethnic bagel was ethnically exclusive, the premium bagel is financially exclusive.
The Instagram
Virality S***
The last song of Act III, "Virality S***," builds upon the ideas discussed in "The Instagram" while examining the new digital cultural authorities that have emerged due to social media's outsized influence on the consumption of premium bagels. The rise of digital social platforms has fundamentally transformed the nature and scope of authenticity debates, connecting a diverse range of consumers at unprecedented speeds. As a result, viral posts connect producers and consumers across the globe, democratizing learning about competing production techniques and claims to authenticity. Digital communities and campaigns are more effective than traditional media at attracting youth audiences, often capitalizing on viral moments to create bagel regulars. Visual documentation on bagel platforms also helps showcase distinct local bagel varieties and production techniques, helping regional bagel varieties build brands and attract consumers. However, the introduction of the bagel to the digital world has failed to convey the bagel's connection to Judaism to new consumers. Instead, in digital communities like r/Bagels, top posts almost exclusively discuss baking techniques rather than heritage. There are no well-known online bagel communities that feature Judaism beyond a footnote; ethnic heritage simply fails to go viral.
The first track of Act III, "All Too Well (Hand-Rolled Version)", examines the performative authenticity that defines the premium era's artisanal revival. Led by the likes of H&H Bagels and Ess-a-Bagel, premium bagel stores explicitly target customers willing to pay premium prices for bagels that are "handcrafted" and made using "traditional" processes. Importantly, of the aforementioned bagel stores, many have long histories stretching back to the ethnic era. Yet while these bakeries highlight their use of historical techniques, they use state-of-the-art baking equipment to produce soft, airy, and white-bread-adjacent products that more closely resemble the commercial bagel than the ethnic bagel. These bagel stores never highlight their Jewish heritage. Traditional bagel production, the defining factor in whether a bagel store produces an "authentic product," has been entirely separated from Judaism, stripping the premium bagel of its ethnic significance. For example, the website for London's Brick Lane Beigel Shop highlights the wooden planks on which bagels bake, yet downplays the bagel-shaping machine it adopted in 1994 and removes any mention of the shop's history of Jewish ownership. Ultimately, the "hand-rolled" premium bagel is an idealized construction. Designed to appeal to 21st-century consumer expectations of quality and craftsmanship, the premium bagel has redefined "authentic" based on what appeals to consumers, not what retains the bagel's original ethnic and cultural connections.
Aptly named, the third song in Act III, "The Instagram," focuses on the proliferation of bagel concoctions designed to stir up online discourse and controversy. The most notorious case study for this trend is the Rainbow Bagel. Within just 24 hours of being spotlighted by “FoodGod”'s Instagram feed in early January 2016, The Bagel Store in Brooklyn and its rainbow-dyed bagel had reached 70 million views. Less than a month later, on February 17th, the Rainbow Bagel was featured during a CBS Broncos vs Panthers Super Bowl ad. What would have normally cost advertisers $5.25 million cost the bagel store nothing. A popular TripAdvisor review illustrates the power social media has in shaping bagel consumption: "When you see that there is a fun item such as a colorful rainbow bagel, well of course your wife insists that her Instagram would not be complete without such a photo to complete her wildest Instagram dreams!" Her dreams, and the dreams of many others: following the rainbow bagel's virality, competitors have experimented with offerings ranging from galaxy bagels to Oreo cream cheese. Designed with virality in mind, these premium bagels drastically depart from traditional production methods, sacrificing quality for beauty. TripAdvisor reviews of the rainbow bagel frequently bemoun how the product "tastes of nothing." Similar to the dough of the commercial bagel, the premium bagels' dough has become a mere afterthought.