The fact that a hungry, home sick New Yorker can get a bagel in China might seem at first surprising, but don't forget China is home to many US style fast food chains: MacDonalds, KFC, let alone Starbucks, to mention just a few so the arrival of the bagel was bound to happen at some point. In fact, the bagel could just have easily come to China quite independently - it wasn't an American invention after all, but a European one. Bagels are not that common in China and they are not something that ordinary Chinese normally are familiar with and crave after - they have their own favorite foods, which vary from one region of this vast country to another. Bagels came to China mainly with the help of people who had been brought up in or lived in the U.S. and had brought the knack of making them with them. One such bagel maker who claims to be the first to bring bagels to China says that she looked everywhere for a bagel when she first came to the country in vain and not finding one realized that she would just have to make them herself if she wanted to munch on one! She married a Chinese man called Shan En and together founded the first bagel factory in Beijing. Apparently, their love affair blossomed when they both realized that they were bagel addicts. At first, they imported them from New York - express delivery at a ridiculous cost - and scoured Chinese hotels and eateries in vain. In one hotel they saw a sign advertising 'bagels', but discovered the item on offer was a hamburger bun with a hole in it! Once the pair decided to make Chinese bagels, they had to learn how to make them correctly with the help of a Russian American friend whose father had been one of the first bagel bakers in New York. Shanens Chinese bagels follow the traditional bagel recipe of a rolled dough of wheat, salt, water and yeast flavored with some malt, formed into a ring, boiled then baked. Apparently, the first bagel makers faced some ridicule by bagel makers back in the U.S. It was said that Chinese wheat was too soft for bagels and Chinese water was too hard! It seems that these doubts have been overcome and a hungry New Yorker seeking out a snack they recognize and know the taste of can bite into a Chinese bagel without it becoming a shock! Mrs Shanen says that they have called their bagels "beigu" in Chinese which means 'precious grain'. She says that the traditional ring shape of the bagel is an important symbol in China, meaning togetherness or unity as well as symbolizing family strength. She says that the bagels sell well around Chinese New Year, and not just to foreigners, but sell throughout the year anyway.
