Who Invented the Everything Bagel?

Next time you get seeds stuck in your teeth after eating an everything bagel, there are four people to blame for this dental catastrophe. These alleged culprits for years claim to have created this Frankenstein bagel.

• David Gussin (Queens’ native)
• Joe Bastianich (restaurateur)
• Seth Godin (entrepreneur)
• Brandon Steiner (sports marketer)

Everything was thrown into this bagel but the kitchen sink. To be fair, Canadians call the same bagel an “all-dressed bagel“. I feel that is a better moniker for the bagel.

The debate still rages on since a New Yorker article that appeared on March 3, 2008. New Yorkers are very passionate about their bagels. Everything is up for grabs but history is favoring David Gussin the “struggling altruistic entrepreneur” as the alleged creator of “the everything bagel”. The internet still refuses to crown one of these men as the creator of the everything bagel. Seth Godin gracefully corrects social media as he relinquishes the attribution but jests the assertion of the claim.

“One night I was screwing around with different combinations of toppings – sesame, salt, poppy, onion and garlic – making braids, onion flats, and other unorthodox concoctions. Then, after a while, I had the thought to throw all the toppings on a bagel at once. That’s how I invented the everything bagel. This was 1973; I was 14.” –Brandon Steiner

“When I wasn’t injured, I was busy baking bagels. Including the everything bagel. (We also made blueberry bagels, which are as bad as you imagine that they are, and green ones for St. Patrick’s Day). Since it’s being reported on the Internet, it must be true.” –Seth Godin

“The inspiration for the everything bagel came about in the trough where some of the seasonings would fall off the baking bagels. I had this idea to make a bagel with all of that fallen seasoning. I stopped working there once I went on to high school and didn’t think much about the everything bagel. I wasn’t on a mission to spread the word about or disseminate the everything bagel.”- Joe Bastianich

“I was sweeping out the seeds. Instead of throwing them out, I swept them out into a bin. The next day, I said to Charlie, ‘Hey, Charlie, instead of throwing them away, put this on a bagel and call it the “everything.” –David Gussin

Fun Fact: In June 2008, Canadian-born astronaut Gregory Chamitoff blasted off on a voyage to the International Space Station with 18 sesame bagels as part of his personal cargo allowance. The bagels came from his cousin’s bakery in Montreal. (Fairmount Bagel)