Slicing Bagels Like Bread: A Debate | Eater

"A practice of slicing bagels into super-thin vertical slivers — reportedly a St. Louis/chain innovation — sparked a social-media debate: supporters praise it for reducing density, maximizing surface area for toppings, turning bagels into chip-like, easy-to-share pieces (handy as an airport snack) and say it works particularly well with very sweet varieties like cinnamon-crunch; detractors argue it destroys the classic contrast between crust and crumb, undermines the bagel’s role as a comically large sandwich platform, produces awkward center pieces that are hard to hold or spread cream cheese on, and find the idea objectionable especially because it originates from a chain." - Eater Staff