Bagels are the only traditional bread item that are boiled before they’re baked. Once shaped, they’re dropped in rapidly boiling water for 3-5 minutes on each side. They’re then drained and baked for another 10 minutes or so—never fried!

The origin of the word “bagel” is unclear. Some say it comes from the German verb “biegen”, which means “to bend”. Others say it’s from the Yiddish “beygel”, (itself a derivation of the German “beugel”, meaning “ring” or “bracelet”).

One bit of bagel lore has it that the bagel was invented in 1683, when a baker in Vienna baked a hard roll in the shape of a stirrup — "bügel" in German — as a thank-you gesture to the cavalry-leading King John III Sobieski of Poland, who had saved the city from Turkish invaders. (Source: foodreference.com)

Prepackaged bagels first became available in grocery stores in the 1950s. In 1960, the frozen bagel made its debut. (Source: Einstein Brothers History of Bagels)

America's favorite pizza topping is pepperoni, with 36% of all pizza orders demanding it on top. (Source: ezinearticles.com)

Kids aged 3 to 11 prefer pizza over all other foods for lunch and dinner, that's according to a recent Gallup Poll.