BAGEL AND TELVOR
The Bagel a variation of the traditional Kashmiri bakery item called Telvor. Extremely popular in the US, the bagel arrived in America with Jewish immigrants. It is believed to have been a breakfast staple of the Jewish community in Poland, known as the boiled-and-baked Krakow Bagel. It is made from yeasted wheat dough, and a bagel must have a ring shape. That is non-negotiable.
Today, you find bagels in countless forms: with cinnamon, with sesame seeds (Til) sprinkled on top, with poppy seeds (Khas khaas), mixed with multigrains, enriched with eggs, studded with raisins, topped with dry garlic or onion flakes, and even with nuts. Common salt is kneaded into the dough to give the bagel its characteristic savoury bite.
Of all the varieties, I find the ‘Everything Bagel’ the best. Slice it in two, fill it with cheese, salads, or non-vegetarian spreads, and relish it with coffee or juice. Over here, it is a complete breakfast in itself. A bagel costs around two dollars in a deli or restaurant. It can be a little cheaper if you buy directly from bakery shops. There are countless shops that sell only bagels. Those with the word ‘Kosher’ written boldly on the outer signboard indicate that the bagel is prepared strictly as per Jewish food standards.
A bagel seller in Manhattan once told me:
'Bagel has survived many centuries for many reasons, but primarily because of the boiling before baking. Boiling gives it an external sheen and a protective cover, so it can last longer than any bread. My grandfather told me that the bagel has been in New York even prior to 1925 A.D. Many bakeries at that point in time sold bagels. The addition of cream cheese spread over a bagel is something that we innovated over here. Now bagels are everywhere. Even coffee outlets like Dunkin’ Donuts or Starbucks and many others sell bagels. Here the bagel is loved as a bun : cheap and nutritious.’
Kashmiri Telvor is also made from yeasted wheat flour and has a sprinkling of sesame seeds over it. It is not boiled but only baked. It has a hole at its centre, which, quite often, gets filled up during the baking process. It is consumed with tea, and topped with butter.
For those who believe in a Jewish and Kashmiri link, the bagel , believed to have been eaten by ancient Egyptians and Romans as well , could be another tool for them, since the Kashmiri bakery Telvor and the bagel are almost identical in form.
I do not believe that there is any verifiable, historical, or other evidence for this theory, even if some writers also believe so.
According to Dr Shashi Shekhar Toshkhani, linguist and scholar:
" 'Joo' is an honorific word used throughout the Hindi-speaking belt to express regard or affection for a person, the same as “Ji”. Braj Bhasha poetry is replete with its use. In Kashmiri also, it was used for the same purpose. It has nothing to do with the word “Jew”. The word Kosher means food prepared according to the rules of Jewish law. It has no relation with “Koshur”. Koshur means a person belonging to Kashmir, and the etymology of the Hebrew word Kosher is in no way linked to it. Phonetically too the words “Kosher” and “Koshur” are quite different ; the basic word in the latter case being “Kashir”. Kashmiri, it must be emphasised, has descended from Vedic Sanskrit through Prakrit and Apabhramsha. It has no links with Hebrew. Chance resemblances of sounds of some stray vocables belonging to totally unrelated word stocks do not in any way indicate affiliation with any language or linguistic group."
So long, so much.
(Avtar Mota)
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